Match report

Marcos Baghdatis © Tennistalk.com
Pacific Life Open
3rd round
3/18/08 1 2 3 Tot
cy  Marcos Baghdatis 3 7 7 0 1
ch  Stanislas Wawrinka 6 6 1 6 2
Stanislas Wawrinka © Tennistalk.com

  • Wawrinka halts Baghdatis charge

    3/18/08 8:20 AM | Johan Lindahl
    Wawrinka played one of his best matches of the year to defeat a pumped up Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 6-7, 6-0 and book his place in the last 16 of Indian Wells for the first time

    The Swiss was predicted to soon crack the top 20 when he burst onto the scene a few years ago. However, he’s never quite been able to find the consistency to get to that next level and instead the likes of Murray, Gasquet and Baghdatis have overtaken him. However if he can display the form and mental resilience he’s shown the past few days then he could soon be mounting a new charge up the rankings.

    Wawrinka was immediately into his hitting rhythm taking charge of the match from the word go and was soon 3-0 up. Baghdatis really had no answer to the Swiss’ wristy baseline tennis, consistently moving the Cypriot way out of court with precise angled strokes shooting off the court with heavy topspin. It looked as though Baghdatis would soon go a double break down, but somehow he held on for the rest of the set. It was to no avail though as Wawrinka wrapped up the set 6-3 with relative ease Baghdatis thrives on cross-court rallying but every time he and Wawrinka engaged in a forehand to forehand duel, eventually the Swiss would power one down the line.

    Wawrinka broke immediately to go 2-0 in set 2 but Baghdatis was still fighting, leveling for 2-2 with the help of a couple of ill-timed Wawrinka double faults. The tide started to turn and suddenly it was Baghdatis dealing out the hammer blows from the back, his cross-court forehand - backhand into the space combination proving particularly effective. Baghdatis served for the set at 5-3 but too many errors let Wawrinka back in. However he dominated the tiebreak racing to a 6-1 lead and finishing with two bludgeoning cross-court forehands to the delight of the late night crowd.

    It looked all set for a blockbuster 3rd set but Wawrinka just stepped up a gear and the pace was too hot for Baghdatis to handle. The Swiss’ backhand was really a revelation in the first and third sets, he just gets so much width when he strikes it well. Baghdatis didn’t particularly play a bad final set, maybe just too passive (a common criticism of Baghdatis’s baseline play), Wawrinka just wiped him off the court with a succession of huge shots.

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