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Dubai: Nadal in round two
Rafael Nadal rallied to beat Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Tuesday in the first round of the Dubai Open.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: March 22, 2007 06:37 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Dubai:
Rafael Nadal rallied to beat Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Tuesday in the first round of the Dubai Open. The defending champion from Spain was broken in the first and seventh games of the first set. "I was coming out of a long break, and it showed in the first set," Nadal said. "Even though I was practicing hard in the last couple of weeks, it took me some time to get my rhythm on the court." Nadal responded well in the second set, breaking Baghdatis in the third and seventh games. In the final set, Nadal broke Baghdatis in the third game, and then won on his second match point. "Baghdatis is a very good player, and I am happy that I have passed the opening test," Nadal said. Third-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia also advanced, beating Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco 6-7 (2), 7-5, 7-5. ." Davydenko struggled to adapt to the outdoor hardcourt at the Aviation Club after coming from the European indoor season. "It was difficult for me to return his (El Aynaoui's) serve after my tough week in Rotterdam," Davydenko said. "It's a different surface and different conditions - indoors to outdoors and quite windy. I tried to get used to it by practicing on Monday, but obviously haven't as yet. So this was a good test." Also, Robin Soderling of Sweden upset eighth-seeded David Ferrer 7-6 (13), 6-1, and seventh-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat Kristof Vliegen of Belgium 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.Topics mentioned in this article
Tennis Andy Roddick Lukas Dlouhy Rohan Bopanna Leander Paes Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi Maria Sharapova
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