Cypriot tennis player Marcos Baghdatis recorded a victory on Wednesday at the PBZ Zagreb Indoors as he upended top seed Ivo Karlovic 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(7) to reach the quarter-finals.
According to Baghdatis official website, having been denied a match point at 5-6 on Karlovic’s serve in the third set tie-break, Marcos then saved a match point when serving at 6-7. He eventually clinched victory after one hour and 57 minutes, having withstood 26 aces.
“I was a bit fresher but when you play against Ivo there are no rallies so you don’t have time to get tired,” he said. “You just need to be explosive, but it took me a while. It took me a set to get into the game. I was a bit slow at the beginning”, he added.
The Cypriot champion said he is very happy with his mental thinking during the game. “I changed where I stand on the court when returning important points and I think it changed a bit his way of serving. I think that was the key to the match and I am very happy I was smart today.”
Marcos, who won the Zagreb title in 2007, goes on to face sixth seed Mikhail Youzhny on Friday. Marcos will look to overturn a 2-4 record against the Russian, who has ranked as highly as World No. 8.