Marcos Baghdatis Moved into Second Round of Australian Open 2008

Marcos Baghdatis made a good start in the Australian Open 2008. The Cypriot defeated Thomas Johansson, the winners of 2002 Australian Open, in the four-set match. In his 7-6 (7-0) 6-2 3-6 6-3 winner, Baghdatis faced strong challenge from his Swedish opponent in the first round. The first set needed to be decided in tie break. However, Baghdatis won the next set easily, but fall in the next one, as Johansson won 6-3. At the end, Johansson could not save the match as Baghdatis claimed the victory winning the last set 6-3. Baghdatis is the 15^th seed of Australian Open 2008.

The Australian reported:

"I'm not thinking to pump the crowd up. I'm just thinking of winning a match," Baghdatis said.

"(But) yeah, I had the whole crowd with me. The Greek fans were there, so that was nice."

Well, it is obviously a good start for the Baghdatis. The star from Cyprus now has to face former world no. 1 Marat Safin in the second round. So, that will be a real test for Marcos Baghdatis. Actually, he was drawn in a tough section of the draw as his most likely third round opponent would be Lleyton Hewitt. Now, let us see if Marcos Baghdatis can reach the quarter final of the tournament.