Match report

Marcos Baghdatis © Tennistalk.com
Tennis Channel Open
2nd round
3/7/08 1 2 Tot
cy  Marcos Baghdatis 6 2 3 0
us  Robby Ginepri 7 7 6 2
Robby Ginepri © Tennistalk.com

  • Ginepri Upsets Baghdatis to Reach Vegas Quarterfinals

    3/7/08 7:21 AM | Ricky Dimon
    Robby Ginepri recovers from a slow start to blow past third-seeded Marcos Baghdatis 7-6(2), 6-3 on Thursday night at the Tennis Channel Open. His surprising victory sets up a quarterfinal showdown with Latvian teenager Ernests Gulbis.

    Unseeded Robby Ginepri overwhelmed Marcos Baghdatis 7-6(2), 6-3 in the second round of the Tennis Channel Open on Thursday. The American settled down after dropping the first three games of the match, cruising in near-dominant fashion throughout the rest of the proceedings.

    Early on it looked this would be a routine win for Baghdatis, as the No. 3 seed broke his opponent in the second game en route to a quick 3-0 lead. From then on, however, it was all Ginepri. The underdog got a break of his own to help him level the match at 3-3 and both players held serve the rest of the way as the first set progressed to a tiebreaker. That’s when the Cypriot’s form really began to deteriorate, especially on serve and also from the baseline. Ginepri simply remained rock solid off the ground and let Baghdatis make mistakes to take the tiebreaker by an easy 7-2 margin.

    In the second set, Baghdatis broke down in almost every way. His serve completely collapsed and his forehand wasn’t much better, especially when he tried to go for too much. He put in just 51 percent of his first serves in the match and double-faulted seven times. As the unforced errors and double faults piled up, Baghdatis lost it mentally and seemed to accept that this would not be his night.

    Baghdatis did not just lose the match; Ginepri also won it fair and square. He came up with some incredible stuff off both sides from the baseline and kept way too many balls in play for Baghdatis’ liking. Ginepri worked almost all of the baseline rallies with heavy topspin to his opponent’s forehand and that paid off consistently. As Baghdatis got worse and worse, Ginepri only got better and better. He lost just six points on serve in the entire second set, while taking 15 points with his return.

    This is Ginepri’s third-straight quarterfinal appearance (Delray Beach and San Jose) and he’ll be seeking his third consecutive semifinal when he faces Ernests Gulbis on Friday evening. The two players have practiced together several times, but this will be their first-ever head-to-head meeting.

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