Dark Days Behind Baghdatis As He Reaches Dubai Final
Dark Days Behind Baghdatis As He Reaches Dubai Final
Cypriot through to biggest final in six years
Former World No. 8 Marcos Baghdatis is through to his biggest ATP World Tour final since 2010 after defeating Feliciano Lopez 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-1 on Friday in the semi-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
The Cypriot is through to his first ATP World Tour 500 final since finishing runner-up at the Citi Open in Washington six years ago.
Looking to win his fifth ATP World Tour title (4-8 finals record), Baghdatis will face second seed Stan Wawrinka on Saturday. The right-hander will need to overturn a 0-5 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Wawrinka.
“It’s amazing,” said Baghdatis. “It’s been a long road for me the past three, four years. It’s all about fighting, getting back to where I want to be. Last year we set some goals to be Top 50 with my team. I achieved that.
“Now I’m moving forward. I think I have still a lot to improve on, but the most important thing is health-wise I’m very, very good. I don’t have any injuries or the health problems that I had. I’m happy I’m back on the court and winning. It’s a nice feeling. I’m going to work even harder so it continues.
“I have definitely thought of retiring. That’s where my wife (former WTA player Karolina Sprem) was there and was very strong, made me take the right decisions. My agent, my parents, my team around me, we saw the light at the end of the tunnel.”
The 30-year-old Baghdatis was up against it facing the sixth-seeded Lopez, but turned around a set and a break deficit to prevail in just over two hours.
“He was the better player today I think the first two sets,” said Baghdatis. “He couldn’t hold his nerves. End of the second he was a break up at 4-3, and serving with new balls he couldn’t hold his nerves.
“The crowd helped me amazingly there and I found a way to fight in the second and win it. I think I played an unbelievable tie-break, very solid, returned very well, served very well.
“Then I started to get momentum in the third. And once I got the break, then held after being down 0/40 on my serve at 2-1, then everything went pretty smooth.”