Second seed Andy Murray flirted with disaster before beating nemesis Marcos Baghdatis 7-6, 2-6, 6-4 in a cliffhanger to reach the last 16 of the Japan Open yesterday.
Britain’s Murray, fresh from winning his third title of the year in Bangkok, left it late to avoid a fourth defeat in five meetings against the Cypriot on his return to Tokyo.
Making his first appearance in Japan since 2006, Murray took the first set tiebreak 7-4 with a ferocious serve Baghdatis challenged in vain, the Scot marching off to his seat without bothering to look up at the slow-motion replay.
PHOTO: AFP
With the center court roof closed because of heavy rain, Baghdatis caught fire in the second set, while Murray’s temper looked like boiling over in the face of intense pressure.
Down 3-1 in the decider after another loose shot, Murray hit back for 3-3, letting out a roar after forcing Baghdatis to net a backhand and hauling himself back into the match.
Baghdatis, a former Australian Open runner-up, blinked first, saving one match point set up by an astonishing backhand lob from Murray.
It proved only a temporary stay of execution as Murray forced him into a wild backhand moments later to secure a place in the next round, where American Alex Bogomolov awaits.
Sixth seed Janko Tipsarevic, who won his first ATP Tour title by beating Baghdatis for the Malaysian Open title at the weekend, came down to earth with a bump.
The Serbian was upset 7-6, 6-7, 7-5 by Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov in a marathon first round match which lasted a shade over three hours.
Tipsarovic complained of feeling unwell after the match.
Matches on outside courts were abandoned because of the bad weather.
Top seed and defending Japan Open champion Rafa Nadal returns to court today to play Canada’s Milos Raonic in the second round.
China open
Reuters, BEIJING
Second seed Victoria Azarenka took a swipe at the crowd as she moved into the last 16 of the China Open yesterday with victory over Slovakia’s Polona Hercog.
The Belarussian, much criticized for her on-court decibel levels, said she had been distracted by noisy spectators during a 7-6, 6-3 victory.
Third seed Vera Zvonareva crumbled to a 6-1, 6-2 defeat against Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic in the third round and there was more disappointment for home fans as wildcard Jie Zheng was bundled out by Agnieszka Radwanska.
Zvonareva, the world No. 3, had no answer to the attacking groundstrokes of 18th seed Ivanovic in a one-sided opening set. The Russian tried to mix things up in the second, but made little impression and was left on the floor by one wrong-footing forehand by her opponent.
Jie enjoyed strong support from a partisan crowd in the 15,000-seater arena, but the world No. 72’s hopes of claiming a major scalp were crushed by Radwanska in a 6-1, 6-4 defeat.
With French Open champion Li Na a surprise first-round casualty, China’s sole survivor in the -tournament is lowly ranked wildcard Ze Zhang, who faces a daunting task against top-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the men’s second round today.
In the men’s draw, Spain’s Fernando Verdasco came back from a set behind against Italy’s Flavio Cipolla, winning 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals. Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny beat Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 6-7, 6-2, 7-5.
In the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan were defeated by Gisela Dulko of Argentina and Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-4, 7-6(4).
Additional reporting by staff writer
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