Marcos Baghdatis, 30, trounced 18-year-old Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-3 during third-round action at the AEGON Open on Thursday. Baghdatis, who has always been dangerous on the green stuff, won 93 percent of his first-serve points and did not get broken a single time.
Baghdatis-Zverev highlights:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vRMKkBQa8g]
Joining the Cypriot in the Nottingham quarterfinals is Leonardo Mayer, who edged 21-year-old Jiri Vesely 7-6(2), 7-6(5). The 28-year-old Argentine blasted 12 aces, exactly twice as many as his opponent.
Established grass-court threats Sam Querrey and Yen-Hsun Lu are also through to the last eight. Querrey, the 2010 Queen’s Club champion, prevailed in a pair of tiebreakers just like Mayer. The American squandered all seven of his break-point opportunities against Pablo Cuevas, but it hardly mattered because he positively dominated with his own serve. Querrey struck 15 aces and did not face a break point as he got the job done 7-6(7), 7-6(3). Lu, who once upset Andy Roddick at Wimbledon, disposed of two-time defending champion Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-2.
Querrey-Cuevas highlights:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IclZVJuv7LY]
Lu-Lopez highlights:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3v2gPk2Myo]
Gilles Simon, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Denis Istomin, and Simone Bolelli round out the quarterfinal lineup.
In doubles, meanwhile, 42-year-old Leander Paes played with his 100th partner on Thursday. The Indian legend teamed up with Marcel Granollers to survive a thrilling first-round encounter 3-6, 6-2, 11-9 at the expense of Treat Huey and Scott Lipsky.
Paes is the sixth active player to reach the 100-partner milestone, joining Frank Moser (144), Andre Sa (119), Oliver Marach (109), Carlos Berlocq (104), and James Cerretani (104).
“It’s nice to play with one of the best doubles players in the world and in history,” Granollers assured.
Leave a Reply