Roger Federer upset by Baghdatis at Indian Wells
Roger Federer was upset 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (4) by Marcos Baghdatis in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
Baghdatis bent down and kissed the court, having closed out the taut contest in which their booming serves kept rallies brief and Federer wasted three match points.
“It’s the best win of my career,” Baghdatis said. “I lost a lot of matches against those top guys, and it’s a relief to win. It’s a great moment for me.”
“Roger was a bit too aggressive. He was missing a lot of balls,” Baghdatis said. “I was more calm than him.”
Federer lost for just the second time in 13 matches this year in his first tournament since winning his 16th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. This was the first time that Federer loses after holding a match point since 2006 in Rome.
“It’s a very fine line. That’s why I don’t like to beat myself up too much after a match like that,” Federer said. “You play good most of the time and then you don’t play so well when you really have to.”
Federer held his third match point on Baghdatis’ serve in the 12th game, but he netted a backhand for deuce. Baghdatis went up and then forced the tiebreaker when Federer mis-hit a backhand return that sailed high in the air beyond the baseline.
“I just couldn’t find the way to win,” Roger said. “I was maybe one shot away, maybe wrong choices at the wrong time, maybe playing too passively.”
Federer played some loose points in the tiebreak, committing seven errors that included netting a forehand volley to set up Baghdatis’ first match point, which he won when Federer’s backhand return sailed long.
“I should never be in a breaker, so why analyze the breaker?” said Federer.
Baghdatis beat the No. 1-ranked player for the first time in his career; his best previous win came against Andy Roddick, ranked third at the time.
“I said to myself that the chance would come, and when it comes, I’ll take it; that’s what I did,” he said. “Through the experience of losing to (Novak) Djokovic in Dubai, having chances and not taking them, remembering all the moments that I had so many chances against these players and I didn’t take them, today I took it. So I’m very, very happy.”
Source AP/Reuters
Photo Getty Images
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