TENNIS in DEPTH.

Marcos Baghdatis stole the show in Sydney as he knocked Australian No.1 Lleyton Hewitt out of the MediBank International with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 quarter-final victory.

The quarter-final match-up promised much after the pair had a five set classic the last time they met in the 2008 Australian Open, and they delivered again in three keenly contested sets.

Hewitt started in promising fashion, breaking Baghdatis early in the first set and hanging tough as the Cypriot pushed to level the scores.

The former world No.1 held firm, took the set and then stole a break and a 2-1 lead in the second set.

But Baghdatis lifted his play to reel off six straight games, taking the set and a 1-0 lead in the third.

A solitary service break was then enough to secure the decider for the 2006 Australian Open finalist who finished off the four-time Sydney champion with an ace.

Baghdatis will now take on Mardy Fish.

Meanwhile former world No.7 Richard Gasquet booked a semi-final spot for a second successive year after beating Italy’s Potito Starace 6-3 7-6 (9-7).

Gasquet looked in fine touch, showing the class that made him a top 10 player before his two-and-a-half month ban after testing positive to cocaine last year.

He’ll meet countryman Julien Benneteau after his 6-4 6-7 (7-5) 6-0 win over Argentine Leonardo Mayer.

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Former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis downed American Mardy Fish 7-5 7-5 in the first match of the day at Pat Rafter Arena.

After the match Baghdatis said he was happy to come away with a win despite not being overjoyed with his form.

“It wasn’t my best match, but I’m very happy with the way I played today. It’s my first match since two and a half, three months, so I’m pretty happy,” he said.

Baghdatis moves into the second round where Czech fourth seed Tomas Berdych lies in wait after ousting Australian qualifier Nick Lindahl in the first round.

Recently Baghdatis has been working on improving his fitness ahead of the Australian summer and believes that winning a major is not out of the question.

“I see myself winning a Grand Slam, I don’t know when, but, I don’t know if it’s coming this year or not but I’m waiting for it.”

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Leonardo Mayer had an easy passage into the LA Open semi-finals, with opponent Mardy Fish withdrawing because of injury.

Number two seed Fish pulled out of the quarter-final clash because of an abdominal injury, giving the Argentinian a welcome day off and a place in the last four of an ATP tour event for the first time in his career.

He will face Carsten Ball for a place in the final, after the Australian defeated America’s John Isner 6-4 6-4 to reach an ATP tour semi-final for the first time himself.

Top seed Tommy Haas beat Marat Safin 7-6 6-2 in one hour 49 minutes to set up a semi against America’s Sam Querrey.

Sixth seed Querrey defeated Israel’s fourth seed Dudi Sela 6-3 7-5 at the Los Angeles Tennis Stadium.

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Second seed Mardy Fish saved three match points against Australia’s Chris Guccione before booking his place in the quarter-finals of the LA Open.

Guccione won the first set on a tie-break and had three chances to clinch victory in the second breaker.

However, Fish held firm and levelled matters before pushing on to win after an early break of serve in the deciding set.

He finally wrapped up a 6-7 (3/7) 7-6 (14/12) 6-4 success after two hours and 22 minutes on court.

Fish will tackle Leonardo Mayer for a place in the semis, after the Argentinian knocked out fifth-seeded Russian Igor Kunitsyn 7-6 (7/5) 6-7 (7/9) 6-3.

Elsewhere in the second round, fourth seed Dudi Sela reached the last eight with a 6-4 3-6 6-1 win over American Robert Kendrick.

Next up for the Israeli is sixth seed Sam Querrey, who beat fellow American Ryan Sweeting 6-3 6-7 6-3.

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James Blake, America’s No. 1 for the first time in a Davis Cup tie, will face the man who had expected to face Roddick, Ivo Karlovic. The draw for the weekend reads:

Friday

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) v James Blake (USA)

Marin Cilic (CRO) v Mardy Fish (USA)

Saturday

Ivo Karlovic/Lovro Zovko (CRO) v Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan (USA)

Sunday

Marin Cilic (CRO) v James Blake (USA)

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) v Mardy Fish (USA)

With all four singles genuinely 50-50 prospects, this could be a tie that goes to the final rubber on Sunday night.

Karlovic has beaten Blake three times in the five matches they’ve contested, but Blake beat Karlovic on clay in Madrid less than two months ago, and with Karlovic’s big serve, the match could well be decided on a single error or moment of brilliance in a tiebreak. Cilic and Fish have played just once, but that was a tour final that went to a final set.

Even the doubles is not totally clear-cut. Obviously the Bryans, the world’s No. 2 pair and Wimbledon runners-up last Saturday, start favourites, but Karlovic and Zovko have played a reasonable amount together, and the Bryans remember well the match at the 2002 US Open when Zovko and his partner Aleksandar Kitinov held match points against the twins, only to lose 7-5 in the final set.

What makes this tie particularly interesting is that clay is not the preferred surface of any of the singles players. And while adjusting from clay to grass is part of the annual tennis circuit, going from grass to clay is much less common. All four singles players were involved at Wimbledon, Karlovic reaching the singles quarterfinals and Blake and Fish coming within two points of reaching the doubles final before losing to the eventual champions Nestor/Zimonjic.

But Cilic denies the choice of surface was a negative one to thwart the Americans. “Ivo and I grew up on clay,” he says, “and even though we’re quite tall, we move well and find our positions well on the court, so it’s a good surface for us to play the US team, and hopefully we can take advantage.”

With the small coastal town of Porec enjoying glorious sunshine at the height of the summer tourist season, play begins relatively late – at four o’clock

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Mardy Fish hopes to net his biggest prize by capturing the scalp of tournament favourite Andy Murray in the AEGON Championships at Queen’s Club today.

American Fish, the tournament’s number eight seed, faces the Briton on the centre court later buoyed by praise from Murray ahead of their encounter.

Fish despatched Feliciano Lopez 6-1 6-4 and although Murray made light work of beating Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4 6-4 in his third round clash, the Scot acknowledged that he will have to step up a level against Fish.

“Fish is a very good grass court player,” said Murray. “I will have to raise my level to beat him.

“I have played him a few times and we get on well. Like I say, he’s a very good grass court player.

“He has a big serve and likes to come to the net. He likes short points, so, you know, I’ll have to pass and return well.”

Andy Roddick, bidding to be the first player to win the tournament five times, managed to eclipse another four-time champion, Lleyton Hewitt, 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-4) to reach the quarter-finals.

Their game was initially held up on centre court because of a security scare. A bomhreat had been discovered pinned to a wall just before the game was set to start – however, following a thorough search nothing was found and the game got under way.

The two former world number ones have dominated the AEGON Championships in recent years, sharing eight titles between them since the turn of the century.

But Roddick, the tournament’s number two seed, proved too powerful for Hewitt in their 11th meeting.

The American now faces Ivo Karlovic, the tournament’s number nine seed, in today’s quarter-final.

Defeated Hewitt did not believe the delayed start had any bearing on the eventual outcome of the game.

“We weren’t told anything,” said Hewitt. “They just said that we had to wait, there was something going on. There obviously was a bit of a commotion out on the court. We weren’t 100% what was going on.

“We’re professional enough now and experienced enough to go out there as soon as we had to.

“Not many guys are going to beat him on this surface. There are only a handful of guys who have the opportunity probably if he’s serving that well.”

Winner Roddick is already focusing on his forthcoming battle with the Croatian.

Roddick said: “Against Ivo there’s so much that’s out of your control. “A guy serves huge from 6ft 10in, a lot of times – you’re going to be walking side-by-side spectating.

“I think you’ve just got to focus on holding your own serve, and I’ve done that against him in the past.

“The only thing you can do is put yourself in a position to succeed, and it’s a matter of if you get a shot or not.”

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Americans Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick clinched the doubles title at the BNP Paribas Open after saving three match points in a 3-6, 6-1, 14-12 win over defending champion Andy Ram and partner Max Mirnyi on Saturday in Indian Wells.

Fish and Roddick sent the doubles final into a match tie-break after winning the final five games of the second set, and saved match points at 8-9, 9-10 and 11-12 in the decider to the approval of the home crowd.

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