TENNIS in DEPTH.

Rafael Nadal produced another unconvincing display ahead of the US Open as he bowed out of the Cincinnati Masters to unseeded Marcos Baghdatis at the quarter-final stage.

The Spaniard had only reached the last-eight after fending off match points against Julien Benneteau in the previous round and looked out-of-sorts against world number 20 Baghdatis.

Despite playing below his best Nadal had tenaciously hung in the contest until he uncharacteristically double faulted at 4-4 in the deciding set to be broken and allow Baghdatis to serve out the match.

The Cypriot’s 6-4 4-6 6-4 win denied the Cincinnati fans a dream semi-final after Roger Federer had been lying in wait following his 6-4 7-5 win over Nikolay Davydenko.

Federer was the only top-four player to advance to the semi-finals after Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray lost to Americans Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish respectively.

But it was Nadal’s exit that was the most unlikely after former Australian Open finalist Baghdatis bullied him on his service while also firing down 18 aces.

“I was serving very well and I got a lot of free points on my serve. That was the key to the match – I didn’t give Rafa any rhythm. “It’s a great victory for me today. I’ll go back to my hotel room and talk with my coach and think of the match with Roger tomorrow.”

Bookmark It