MUNICH – Cypriot tennis star Marcos Baghdatis was dumped out of the BMW Open on Friday after going down in straight sets to German veteran Tommy Haas.
Baghdatis had limped his way into the quarterfinals of the Munich tournament after unconvincing wins over fellow Germans Dustin Brown and Tobias Kamke before finally going down 6-1, 7-6 (3) to the 34-year-old.
Haas got a wild card into the clay-court tournament and he could match or improve his best finish in Munich, where he was runner-up in 2000. He was once ranked as high as No. 2 but has dropped to No. 134 because of various injuries. Haas will face third-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia, who beat sixth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3.
Next up for Baghdatis is the Mutua Madrid Open, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay-court event which begins on Sunday in the Spanish capital. The draw was made on Friday and the Cypriot will open his campaign against Spanish wild card Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.