Marcos Baghdatis defeated Roger Federer 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (4) in the third round of the BNP Parabas Open. Federer, a three-time champion at Indian Wells, held two match points late in the second set and another in the 12th game of the third but wasted all of them through unforced errors.

“Best win of my career,” said the 24-year-old joyous Baghdatis who bent down and kissed the court after the match “I think that says everything. I cannot say I'm not happy. I'm very happy. A lot of emotions are going through right now. It's the best win of my career. I lost a lot of matches against those top guys, and it's a relief to win a match like that after being out for two years, having some tough moments. It's a great moment for me. I'll try to enjoy it.”

The Cypriot, who had lost to Federer in their first six encounters including the 2006 Australian Open final, told the crowd, “Seven is my lucky number.”

Federer lost for just the second time in 13 matches this year in his first tournament since winning his 16th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.

“You cannot be aggressive the whole match,” said the No. 27 seed. “You have to choose the points that you have to be aggressive. You have to be smart. You have to change the game. I think that's what I did well today. Roger was, I can say, a bit too aggressive. He was missing a lot of balls, and I was more calm than him today.”


Federer said: “It was a decent match, but maybe wrong choices at the wrong time for me. Maybe going for too much, maybe playing too passively. That's not something you can really work on. That comes through playing matches, and that's what I need. I hope to get more of it in Miami, but I will definitely play a lot of practice sets, that's for sure, until then.”

Federer was playing in his first tournament since winning his 16th Grand Slam in January at the Australian Open. He had been briefly sidelined with a lung infection before making his return this week in Indian Wells.

“I think as the tournament would have gone forward I would have found my groove more and more, and who knows what would have happened?” he said. “But I don't need to worry about that anymore. It's about resting because I do feel the first match in my body. It's something that always is tough, coming from a long layover and all of a sudden playing matches. But, the season is long. There's no need to panic here.”



(via BNP Paribas Open, photo/AP Photo)

Marcos Baghdatis stuns Roger Federer at Indian Wells