Update 9:35 pm. Charismatic Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis has cruised into the quarterfinals with a comfortable 6-3 6-4 win over fifth-seed Kei Nishikori from Japan.
Under new coach Miles Maclagan, the current world number 44’s New Year’s quest to play more aggressive tennis has reaped early rewards as he blasted an out-of-sorts Nishikori into submission.
“He helped me a lot [to] understand how to play and go on court,” he said.
Despite it only being his second hit out of the year, Baghdatis said he could already detect an improvement in his game.
“I felt much better today than the first day,” he said, making reference to his first-round victory over American Ryan Harrison.
“Maybe [my] percentage serve [was] much better, winning more points out of my first serve.”
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Baghdatis came flying out of the blocks with some blistering groundstrokes, breaking Japan’s top player to love to take a 2-0 lead.
His improved serve then allowed him to consolidate and take the set 6-4.
Nishikori lifted his level at the beginning of the third, which remarkably saw four breaks of serve exchanged in just the first five games.
However, it was Baghdatis who held his nerve at the pointy end of the set as Nishikori continued to struggle with his timing – at one stage he was even left pleading with the heavens for answers.
“I think maybe [he was] a bit tired, I don’t know what happened. I didn’t talk to him but I never gave him a chance to come into the match and I guess that’s it,” Baghdatis said when analysing his opponent’s performance.
Always the crowd favourite on Aussie soil since his breakthrough Australian Open final appearance in 2006, Baghdatis will be keen to continue the big hitting in a Brisbane International quarterfinal with either top seed Andy Murray or Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller.