27 Marcos Baghdatis d 1 Roger Federer - 75 57 76(4)
On his seventh try Marcos Baghdatis claimed his first victory over #1 Roger Federer - and he saved 3 match points (2 in the 2nd, 1 in the 3rd) to do it. Losses just don't come any closer than this but wow, somewhere in the middle of the 2nd set Roger started spraying balls all over the place. Get to Miami and work on that backhand Rog.
It is so rare (and shocking) for Roger to exit a tournament this early. Hmm, this year he took to practicing on a court off-site - maybe that wasn't such a good call?
Last week Greg Garber wrote a piece for ESPN.com with a theory that Roger Federer doesn't burn for the Masters 1000 events like he used to and that he focuses only on the majors. I think he is wrong. The next major (Roland Garros) isn't until May, why would Roger show up in Indian Wells and Miami in March not wanting to very badly win it? He thrives on beating up one these guys.
I think the thing that is happening here is clearly the difference in the matches - Slams are best-of-five, Masters and the smaller events are best-of-three. It's much much easier (if you'll allow me the use of that word) to beat Roger in a shorter match. Even last night I doubt Baghdatis would have won it even going up two-sets-to-one in a best-of-five match. Except for you-know-who, it's nearly impossible to take three sets off of Roger in a single match. Just ask Davydenko, he can surely testify to my theory.
Photo: Reuters
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