Match report

Marcos Baghdatis © Tennistalk.com
French Open
1st round
5/26/08 1 2 3 Tot
cy  Marcos Baghdatis 2 4 2 0
it  Simone Bolelli 6 6 6 3
Simone Bolelli © Tennistalk.com

  • Returning Baghdatis sees early exit

    5/27/08 12:03 AM | David Cox
    Marcos Baghdatis’ hopes of a repeat of his 2007 performance at Roland Garros were ended by Simone Bolelli who sent the 17th seed packing 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.

    51 unforced errors were a telling stat for Baghdatis, over twice as many as his opponent and reflecting his lack of matches after over a month out due to personal reasons.

    Bolelli has had some great results this year after breaking out of the challengers and Baghdatis was quick to praise his opponent’s tennis “He has a beautiful forehand and he played a great match. I made wrong decisions, and this is what made the difference. He’s played more tournaments than I did so he had confidence. He shot the ball very well. He was fit. That made the difference, and this is why today I lost. I was not aggressive enough, because I'm lacking practice at the moment. But he played well.”

    Baghdatis will consider asking for a wild card into a Challenger event next week (possibly Surbiton) as he now begins his preparations for the grass season and aims to definitely be present at Wimbledon.

    Novak Djokovic will be relieved to see potential 3rd-round opponent Guillermo Canas crash out in the opening round. It was a shock defeat for the 29th seed in his favorite slam and quite a blow after last year’s run to the quarterfinals. However, the unheralded American Wayne Odesnik delivered on the big points to win in three close tiebreakers 7-6(6), 7-6(3), 7-6(8). Each player had another chances to wrap the match up without needing any tiebreaks but both squandered numerous break points. Odesnik credited his mental toughness for pulling through, saying, “I've been working, aside from physically on my game, also on the mental side, which has definitely helped me to keep three tiebreakers today.”

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