Baghdatis wins epic semi-final - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Baghdatis wins epic semi-final

27/01/2006 05:43:32 AM Comments (0)

Unseeded Marcos Baghdatis produced one of the greatest comebacks in Australian Open history to march into the men's singles final with a five-set semi-final victory over fourth seed David Nalbandian on Thursday night.

In a remarkable match which remained in doubt until the final point, Baghdatis fought back from two sets down to win the three-hour, 27-minute epic 3-6 5-7 6-3 6-4 6-4 at Rod Laver Arena.

Nalbandian looked on course to wrap up the match early when in control at 6-3 5-1 up, but Baghdatis came roaring back to level the second set at 5-5, only to eventually lose 7-5.

That was only a taste of things to come as the world No.54 from Cyprus took control of the third and fourth sets to send the match into a fifth.

After Nalbandian broke serve twice only for Baghdatis to break back immediately, the Cypriot snapped the Argentine's serve for the third time in the set to go 5-4 up.

But there was further drama with Baghdatis serving for the match at 15-all when heavy rain started, and with the retractable roof open, play was suspended for 25 minutes as the roof was closed and the court was mopped up.

Eventually Baghdatis kept his nerve and closed out the match to reach his first Grand Slam final.

He will play the winner of Friday night's semi-final between world No.1 Roger Federer and German 21st seed Nicolas Kiefer.

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