Marcos Baghdatis is looking to win back to back matches for the first time in a while when he takes on Steve Darcis in Winston-Salem today.
Baghdatis has been seriously struggled for form in recent weeks, exiting in the first round of Montreal and Cincinnati so the Cypriot was relieved to get past the giant American Ryan Sweeting 7-5, 6-1 in their second round clash.
"I won, which is the most-important thing," he said. "It was tough playing out there. The courts are very fast, the balls get small, so it jumps very high and is very quick. But it’s the first round. I fought through it.
“I didn’t serve very well so I have some things to work on. I was returning well.But he was double-faulting a lot also. He threw in some crucial double faults. But I’m returning well and just playing solid, and that’s what I have to do."
Darcis is trying to work his way back having once been ranked in the top 50 but after a difficult few years the Belgian found himself well outside the top 100. For someone who has two ATP titles to their name, it was tough to go back to challengers but he’s been grinding it out and has two titles to his name this summer and he’s back on the verge of the top 100.
He took out eleventh seed Dmitry Tursunov in three sets in round two and will fancy his chances against the out of form Baghdatis.
Prediction: Baghdatis in three.
