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  • Indian Wells round 3 - Baghdatis vs Wawrinka

    3/17/08 8:21 AM | David Cox
    - Baghdatis enters the back-to-back masters series in Indian Wells and Miami with much to prove. Since his stunning run to the final of the 2006 Aussie Open, the Cypriot often consistently reaches the last 16 of the big tournaments but rarely goes on further and makes a real impact, often being found wanting against the top players when it really counts

    He finished 2007 with a good performance in Paris, making the semis but in Melbourne he crashed out to Hewitt in a dramatic late night/early morning 5 setter 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-7, 6-3. Since then he made the Marseille semis (losing 6-4, 6-2 to Ancic) but didn’t start the US hard court swing too strongly, getting outhit by Ginepri 7-6, 6-3 in the Vegas last 16. He’ll be looking to improve a lot on a disappointing showing in Indian Wells last year (he went out at the first hurdle to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez)

    Baghdatis and Wawrinka have met once before but that was a largely irrelevant futures match 6 years ago won by the Cypriot, which both would be pushed to remember

    Wawrinka will certainly be fancying his chances here after Baghdatis’ round 2 showing, he really struggled against the American world no 123 Wayne Odesnik and his game completely disintegrated in set 2 before regrouping to win 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-3. Wawrinka himself also went through a see-saw battle but against world no 10 Tomas Berdych. Neither player really could master the wind but it was the Swiss who coped slightly better to take it 2-6, 7-6, 6-4.

    Baghdatis currently sits at 18 in the ATP rankings, Wawrinka 17 places lower at 35. The Swiss made a great start to the year, a finalist in Doha (losing 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to Murray) but his form petered out and before this tournament he hadn’t not won 2 consecutive matches since Doha, losing in the first round in Dubai to Jan Hernych 6-, 6-4

    Prediction: Wawrinka in 3

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