Nadal Beats Baghdatis in a Thriller at Dubai Tennis Championships

Dubai, UAE, February 27th, 2007: Defending champion Rafael Nadal came out as the winner against charismatic Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in a high-quality first round battle at the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open on Tuesday.

The Spaniard came through 3-6 6-2 6-3 after appearing to be in deep trouble as Baghdatis dominated the opening set.

A break for 1-0 placed Nadal under pressure from the start, and his lack of play since the Australian Open showed as he failed to match the aggression and energy of his opponent.

But after dropping his serve again to lose the first set, Nadal became more aggressive and took several opportunites to come to the net. His enterprise quickly paid off as he broke for 2-1, and a further break for 5-2 left him serving for the set.

With the momentum now running in his favour, Nadal took a 2-1 lead in the third set when Baghdatis double-faulted on break point, and he broke yet again at 5-3 to claim a well-earned victory.
“I am very happy,” said Nadal. “I played very good tennis. The first set, I was feeling not bad, but Marcos was playing with confidence because he’s been playing well the last weeks.

“But after the first set I felt better and better. I played more aggressive with my forehand especially, and I was serving good. In the final set I played one of my best matches this year for sure.”

Baghdatis knew he had held the advantage, but then let it slip away.

“I’m disappointed I lost today because the first set I was playing really good. I felt like he couldn’t find the solution because I was changing the rhythm all the time.

“But then I got broken at 1-1 a bit stupidly and I put him in the match, and when you put guys like Rafa in the match and give them a chance to play then it’s tough to come back.”

In another thriller, Russian third seed Nikolay Davydenko was stretched all the way by Moroccan wild card Younes El Aynaoui, taking two hours 50 minutes to advance 6-7(2) 7-5 7-5.

El Aynaoui is ranked 195 but often looked the better player, serving well, rallying strongly from the baseline and making frequent advances to the net.

After holding off a break point in the opening game, El Aynaoui held two set points at 5-4 before easing through the tiebreak.

Davydenko then broke to lead 2-0 in the second set, but El Aynaoui stood his ground and broke back in the fifth game.

In a dramatic final set, Davydenko broke for 2-0 and led 4-1 before a gallant El Aynaoui staged a fightback.

A netted backhand from Davydenko gave him a break back at 2-4 and he went on to level at 4-4 and 5-5. But in a lengthy final game, Davydenko went on to claim victory on his fifth match point when a ball from El Aynaoui just failed to go over the net.

The Dubai Tennis Championships is owned and organised by Dubai Duty Free and takes place under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

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(T) +9714 3210008; (M) +971 50 55 96795; john.rynehart@promoseven.com