CYPRIOT Marcos Baghdatis won his 200th career match on the ATP Tour in style by upsetting World No 40 and sixth seed Alex Bogomolov Jr 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 in the first round of the Malaysian Open at Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
The World No 60, who struggled in the recent US Open, needed to produce his best tennis to overcome his on-form opponent.
Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open finalist, and the bad-tempered Bogomolov started cautiously as both held serve to force a tie-break before the former broke serve three times to win the first set 7-3 in 54 minutes.
It was the same story in the second set as both players preferred to stay on the baseline. Baghdatis then raised his tempo in the ninth game and held two match points at 40-15 but Bogomolov, who was on serve, saved both for deuce.
The 26-year-old, who has won two ATP titles, however got the better of Bogomolov to earn his place in the second round, where he will face either India's Asian Games champion Somdev Devvarman or Russian qualifier Mikhail Ledovskikh.
Bogomolov was warned by the chair umpire for throwing his racquet on the court several times during the match.
"You don't really think about it (200th win on the ATP Tour). It is the first round and you just try your hardest to win," said Baghdatis.
"Alex (Bogomolov) played really well and so I had to up my game. It was an even match between us but I had the little bit of edge just enough to win."
In the battle of two wild cards, Belgium's World No 223 David Goffin earned his second career match victory by ousting Australia's World No 137 Matthew Ebden 6-4, 7-6 (4).
Goffin, 20, broke Ebden's serve in the seventh game to win the first set but stomach problems saw him struggle in the second, where he had to come back from 5-2 down to clinch victory in only his second ATP-level tournament this year.
"I have been having stomach problems for the last two days. I called for medical help during the match. I hope I will recover in time for my second round match," said the Belgian.
He will face either Russia's Dmitry Tursunov or Chile's Paul Capdeville, who were involved in a late match, in the second round.
RESULTS: Men's singles -- 1st rd: David Goffin (Bel) bt Matthew Ebden (Aus) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4); Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) bt Alex Bogomolov (Usa) 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.
Qualifying (3rd rd): Mikhail Ledovskikh (Rus) bt Tatsuma Ito (Jpn) 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-6 (8-6); Rik De Voest (Rsa) bt Michael Yani (Usa) 7-6 (7-3), 6-4; Marinko Matosevic (Aus) bt Rajeev Ram (Usa) 6-3, 6-4; Teymuraz Gabashvili (Rus) bt Zhang Ze (Chn) 6-2, 6-4.
