Murray survives scare to beat Baghdatis

Published on Thursday 6 October 2011 01:10

Second seed Andy Murray flirted with disaster before beating nemesis Marcos Baghdatis 7-6 2-6 6-4 in a cliffhanger to reach the last 16 of the Japan Open.

Despite this close call, it continues an impressive run of form for Murray, with a record of 17 wins from his past 18 matches, the lone defeat in that run coming at the hands of Rafael Nadal in the US Open semi-finals.

Murray, fresh from winning his third title of the year in Bangkok, left it late to avoid a fourth defeat in five meetings against the Cypriot on his return to Tokyo.

“In the first two sets he definitely played better than me,” Murray admitted afterwards. “I did a lot of the running and I was lucky to win the first set on a tie-break.

“They were very different conditions to last week [in Thailand] and with the roof across it’s also different. It took me longer to find my range.”

Making his first appearance in Japan since 2006, Murray took the first set tie-break 7-4 with a ferocious serve Baghdatis challenged in vain, the Scot marching off to his seat without bothering to look up at the slow-motion replay.

With the centre court roof closed because of heavy rain, Baghdatis caught fire in the second set, while Murray’s temper looked like boiling over in the face of intense pressure.

Down 3-1 in the decider after another loose shot, Murray hit back for 3-3, letting out a roar after forcing Baghdatis to net a backhand and hauling himself back into the match.

Baghdatis, a former Australian Open runner-up, blinked first, saving one match point set up by an astonishing backhand lob from Murray.

It proved only a temporary stay of execution as Murray forced him into a wild backhand moments later to secure a place in the next round, where American Alex Bogomolov awaits.

Sixth seed Janko Tipsarevic, who won his first ATP Tour title by beating Baghdatis for the Malaysian Open title at the weekend, came down to earth with a bump.

The Serbian was upset 7-6, 6-7, 7-5 by Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov in a marathon first-round match which lasted a shade over three hours. Tipsarovic complained of feeling unwell after the match. “The travel to Tokyo killed me,” he said. “The doctor told me I have a viral infection and to rest for three days.”

Matches on outside courts were abandoned due to the bad weather. Top seed and defending Japan Open champion Rafa Nadal returns to court today to play Canada’s Milos Raonic in the second round.

In Beijing, meanwhile, second seed Victoria Azarenka took a swipe at the crowd as she moved into the last 16 of the China Open with victory over Slovakia’s Polona Hercog.

The Belarussian, much criticised for her on-court decibel levels, said she had been distracted by noisy spectators during a 7-6 6-3 victory.

Third seed Vera Zvonareva crumbled to a 6-1 6-2 defeat against Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic in the third round and there was more disappointment for home fans as wild-card Jie Zheng was bundled out by Agnieszka Radwanska.

“I would love people to be a bit more respectful and turn off their cell phones and just come and watch tennis and respect that players are doing their job,” world No 4 Azarenka told reporters.

In the men’s draw, Spain’s Fernando Verdasco came back from a set behind against Italy’s Flavio Cipolla, winning 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals. Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny beat Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 6-7, 6-2, 7-5.