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| 04 Jun 2003 | |
| Baghdatis bowls Brit over |
By Eleanor Preston at Roland Garros
Top seed Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) pulled rank over Andrew Murray, beating the Briton 6-3, 6-1 to set up a last eight clash with America’s Brian Baker at the Roland Garros junior tournament.
The match between Baghdatis, the World No.1, and Baker, who took the Orange Bowl trophy last year, is set to be tie of the quarter-final round.
Baghdatis won’t be intimidated though. As the reigning Australian Open champion, Baghdatis is happy with his status as tournament favourite even if it makes him a marked man.
“Everybody wants to beat you and so you have to be there all the time, you can’t even give up one point because if you started giving your opponents free points then they will start to believe that they can beat you,” he said. “I have been doing that well so far in my first three matches. You have to look like a champion because it makes the other player go in the head. I want to remind them that I am the boss and I am here.”
Baghdatis certainly showed Murray why he has been in the last two Grand Slam junior finals (he was runner-up to Richard Gasquet at last year’s US Open), despite a nervous start and some impressive spells of play from the Briton.
“He’s young but he’s playing really good,” said Baghdatis. “I went on to the court a little bit shaky and a bit nervous, because my practice before the match wasn’t too good. Once we started playing I started to feel the clay court a bit better and I started to play with him. It got much easier.”
Baghdatis only started playing on clay 15 days ago and says it has taken him a while to adjust to the red terre battue of Roland Garros. “Everybody says it suits my game and I think that’s true, but when you are not used to it you have to keep on practicing,” he said. “I think it can suit me very well because I have a great serve and a great forehand and I have touch, and that’s what you need to play on clay.”
While Baghdatis has reached the last eight without dropping a set, Baker, seeded sixth, had a far tougher time in his third round match against Hungary’s Gyorgy Balazs , eventually winning 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-1.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga(FRA), seeded fourth, wasted little time in easing past Britain’s David Brewer . Tsonga has won his last three matches against the Scot, including last year’s third round clash at Roland Garros. Tsonga is regarded as one of France’s brightest hopes but, like Baghdatis, says he is determined not to let the pressure get to him. “There is lots of pressure in the first round but once you get past that it gets easier,” said Tsonga. “It means lots more people are watching you and I enjoy that.”
Tsonga now plays Spain’s Daniel Gimeno-Traver, who is back to winning ways after his defeat in the Italian Open final, he beat Novak Djokovic 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) takes on Dudi Sela (ISR) and Mathieu Montcourt (FRA) plays Nicolas Almagro (ESP), the Italian Open champion in Thursday’s other boys’ quarter-final.
In the girls’ competition, Michaella Krajicek (NED) continued her good progress in Paris, moving through to the quarters with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Heidi El Tabakh of Egypt. The top two seeds Vera Douchevina(RUS) and Anna-Lena Groenefeld 35013658 (GER) also progressed with straight sets wins and Katerina Bondarenko (UKR) beat her Finnish roommate Emma Laine 7-5, 2-6, 7-5, despite the fact that Laine had been 4-0 up in the final set, to seal her quarterfinal spot.
Photos by Susan Mullane
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