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Post by Giatros on Dec 31, 2010 14:22:17 GMT -5
 The Sydney Morning Herald - smh.com.auBaghdatis aiming for an encore Sydney titleDaniel Lewis
January 1, 2011A YEAR ago, Marcos Baghdatis was at the Sydney International revelling in his appearance in the opening scene of Andre Agassi's controversial autobiography. The legendary American tennis player started his book with vivid details of the 2006 US Open match he played against Baghdatis, praising the Cypriot as a younger version of himself. The epic five-set victory Agassi had over Baghdatis was the last of his career. Baghdatis is yet to reach the heights that Agassi attained, but some of his career highlights have come in Australia, where he has family and always gets huge support from the Greek Cypriot community. Australian fans love his smile and the fact Pat Rafter was his idol growing up. Baghdatis, 25, is the reigning Sydney International champion, and told the Herald this week that he will return to defend his title in great physical shape after gruelling pre-season training. ''I'm very excited to go back to Sydney,'' he said. ''It's my favourite tournament, and I love the city. I had a great moment there last year, beating Richard Gasquet to win my fourth title, and I really appreciated all the support I received from the Aussie fans. ''I think playing in Sydney will be great preparation for me before the Australian Open as it's a really strong field there in 2011. I've worked really hard in the off-season, mountain biking, in the gym and on the court. ''It's been tough, but I feel like I've improved in all departments, and now I'm excited about testing myself against the likes of Juan Martin del Potro, Sam Querrey, Ernests Gulbis, Richard Gasquet and Viktor Troicki. I really hope I can defend my title.'' Querrey, of the United States, is top seed for the tournament and ranked No. 18 in the world. Baghdatis, ranked 20th, is the second seed. Gulbis is third in the pecking order with a ranking of 24th. After beating Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the semi-final of last year's International, Baghdatis went on to defeat France's Gasquet 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) in the final. It was the only tournament he won last year, but other highlights of the year included beating Roger Federer in Indian Wells and Rafael Nadal in Cincinnati, both in the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 series. Baghdatis reached a career-high world ranking of No.8 in 2006, after making the final of the Australian Open that year. This week he was playing in the Mubadala exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi, where he pushed world No. 6 Tomas Berdych all the way in a close 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 loss.  |
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Post by getta on Jan 6, 2011 9:32:16 GMT -5
official site of the event: www.medibankinternational.com.au/
main draw: Saturday, January 8, Noon
ENTRY LIST1 Querrey, Sam USA 18 2 Baghdatis, Marcos CYP 203 Gulbis, Ernests LAT 24 4 Gasquet, Richard FRA 29 5 Troicki, Viktor SRB 30 6 Lopez, Feliciano ESP 32 7 Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo ESP 33 8 Lu, Yen-Hsun TPE 35 9 Mayer, Florian GER 37 10 Nieminen, Jarkko FIN 38 11 Chela, Juan Ignacio ARG 39 12 Istomin, Denis UZB 40 13 Simon, Gilles FRA 42 14 Benneteau, Julien FRA 44 15 Chardy, Jeremy FRA 45 16 Stakhovsky, Sergiy UKR 46 17 Starace, Potito ITA 47 18 Dolgopolov, Alexandr UKR 48 19 Seppi, Andreas ITA 52 20 (SE) 21 (SE) 22 (Q) 23 (Q) 24 (Q) 25 (Q) 26 (WC) del Potro, Juan Martin ARG 27 (WC) 28 (WC) Alternates 1 Becker, Benjamin GER 53 2 Berrer, Michael GER 55 3 Kukushkin, Mikhail KAZ 59 4 Stepanek, Radek CZE 62 5 Haase, Robin NED 65 6 Berlocq, Carlos ARG 66 7 Kamke, Tobias GER 67 8 Serra, Florent FRA 69 9 Kubot, Lukasz POL 70 10 Andujar, Pablo ESP 71 11 Riba, Pere ESP 72 12 Schwank, Eduardo ARG 74 13 Sela, Dudi ISR 75 14 Mello, Ricardo BRA 76 15 Ramirez Hidalgo, Ruben ESP 77
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Post by Giatros on Jan 8, 2011 2:31:36 GMT -5
Main Draw :
[1] QUERREY, Sam (USA) vs. BYE
DOLGOPOLOV, Alexandr (UKR) vs. QUALIFIER
QUALIFIER vs. NIEMINEN, Jarkko (FIN)
SIMON, Gilles (FRA) vs. [8] LU, Yen-Hsun (TPE)
[3] GULBIS, Ernests (LAT) vs. BYE
QUALIFIER vs. CHARDY, Jeremy (FRA)
BECKER, Benjamin (GER) vs. STAKHOVSKY, Sergiy (UKR)
QUALIFIER vs. [7] GARCIA-LOPEZ, Guillermo (ESP)
[5] GASQUET, Richard (FRA) vs. EBDEN, Matthew (AUS)
SEPPI, Andreas (ITA) vs. ISTOMIN, Denis (UZB)
CHELA, Juan Ignacio (ARG) vs. STEPANEK, Radek (CZE)
BYE vs. [4] TROICKI, Viktor (SRB)
[6] LOPEZ, Feliciano (ESP) vs. DEL POTRO, Juan Martin (ARG)
MAYER, Florian (GER) vs. WARD, James (GBR)
STARACE, Potito (ITA) vs. BENNETEAU, Julien (FRA)
BYE vs. [2] BAGHDATIS, Marcos (CYP)
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Post by choupi on Jan 9, 2011 4:17:38 GMT -5
Allez Marcos!!  |
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Post by Giatros on Jan 9, 2011 10:30:12 GMT -5
Marcos' 2nd round match, will be held on Wednesday.
Oop for Monday is out and the Starace - Benneteau match is not on it.
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Post by getta on Jan 10, 2011 1:21:10 GMT -5
www.medibankinternational.com.au/2011/01/defending-champ-baghdatis-withdraws#more-3821 Defending champ Baghdatis withdrawsMonday 10 January 2011No. 2 seed Marcos Baghdatis has withdrawn from the Medibank International Sydney today due to a left groin injury. The title holder suffered the injury during a training session at Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre over the weekend. “I’m very disappointed as I am the defending champion here,” the Cypriot said. “I have family here and I wanted to play in front of them and it is disappointing, but sometimes you have to take a decision that’s not easy.” Tournament Director Craig Watson expressed his disappointment at the news. “You never want to lose any player from your draw and when it’s the defending champion, it is even more disappointing,” Watson said. “Marcos was very down when he came to see me and tell me he had injured his groin. He was really looking forward to defending his title in front of his family and friends. “We wish Marcos a speedy recovery in time for the Australian Open and we look forward to being able to welcome him back next year to the Medibank International Sydney.” Baghdatis’ place in the men’s main draw will be taken by a lucky loser, Poland’s Lukasz Kubot.
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Post by getta on Jan 10, 2011 1:38:17 GMT -5
Marcos, don't miss the forest for the trees. with the Australian Open just around the corner, you have to stay as much away from the sun as possible.  told ya all yesterday. Marcos  |
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Post by Giatros on Jan 10, 2011 8:27:23 GMT -5
Marcos pulls out of Sydney
Defending champions takes decision to rest injury…Defending champion Marcos Baghdatis has been forced to pull out of the Medibank International Sydney tournament due to an injury to his left groin. In a press conference on Monday, Marcos said how ‘disappointed’ he was to be unable to defend his ATP World Tour 250 title in front of his family. Marcos was an impressive winner in Sydney in 2010, dispatching Frenchman Richard Gasquet in straight sets in the final. However, Marcos and his team decided that playing this year could potentially harm his prospects at the Australian Open, and so the difficult decision was taken to rest his groin. ‘The Australian Open is coming up, and I don’t want to risk making it worse, so I took the decision with my team today not to participate’. Marcos now has a week to rest and prepare himself for the Australian Open, where he will look to improve upon his performance last year, when he reached the third round and was forced to retire against Lleyton Hewitt. Watch a video of Marcos’ press conference here. 
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