Ecstatic Baghdatis Triumphs Over Federer in Indian Wells.

In the biggest win of his career, the charismatic and popular Marcos Baghdatis finally defeated after seven tries World No. 1 Roger Federer in a tight match in the third round of the BNP Paribas Tennis Championships at Indian Wells 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (4). Seemingly out of the match while facing two match points on his serve in the second set, Baghdatis stayed close with Federer to finally win his first ever match against a No. 1 player.

Although Baghdatis remained even with Federer during the match, it looked like the world No. 1 would take it after finding himself with two match points on the Cypriot’s serve. But a slew of unforced errors allowed Baghdatis to hang on and win the second set. In the third set, things stayed tight until Federer broke to go up 3-1, but on the next game, Baghdatis smoked a forehand down the line to get a break point while Federer dumped a volley into the net to get things back to 3-2.

Federer got another match point on Baghdatis’s serve at 5-6 but dumped a backhand into the net eventually forcing a tiebreaker. By then the unforced errors, 46 in all, started to pile up for Federer as he sprayed a backhand long allowing Baghdatis to serve it out with a big flat serve down the “t” which Federer hit long.

Baghdatis will now take on Tommy Robredo of Spain in the fourth round tomorrow.