Marcos Baghdatis’ 26th birthday started well Friday with a straight-sets victory over Germany’s Denis Gremelmayr at the Unicef Open, but Croatia’s Ivan Dodig cut short his celebrations by beating the Cypriot 7-6 (4), 6-1 in the semifinals. Dodig, seeded fourth, will face unseeded Dmitry Tursunov of Russia in the final.
Tursunov beat third-seeded Xavier Malisse of Belgium 6-3, 7-6 (1) in the other semifinal. Both men had to finish their rain-interrupted quarterfinals earlier Friday. Baghdatis routed Gremelmayr 6-1, 6-0 in a 47-minute match held over from a rain-soaked Thursday.
His semifinal was more trying. He lost a close first set and then ran out of steam, giving Dodig a shot at his second ATP title. “I was a little bit lucky maybe in the first set,” Dodig said. “In the second set I was more relaxed and trying to be more aggressive.”
