Marat Safin & Marcos Baghdatis Enter LA Open Second Round  Marat Safin |
Marat Safin and Marcos Baghdatis reached the second round of Los Angeles Open tennis after lengthy dry spells on the court.
Eighth-seed Safin, the former number one and two-time Grand Slam champion is set to retire at age 29 in November. He put out last week's Indianapolis winner Robby Ginepri 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to get into the second round.
This makes Safin, winner of 15 titles, a modest 8-12 record for a season in which he has struggled.
"Throughout the years, you have to live with tennis 24/7. There is no way you're gonna leave and like for days relax and not think about it. Sooner or later you're gonna think about tennis," he has complained.
Baghdatis overcame Indy semi-finalist Canadian Frank Dancevic 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 in the first round.
Safin had earned his last ATP win in the first round of the French Open in late May while Baghdatis was stretchered off a court in the Netherlands a month ago, missing Wimbledon with a knee injury.
Baghdatis is playing in LA for the second time and this is his first win at the venue after a defeat four years ago.
He will next challenge American John Isner, a winner over German fifth seed Benjamin Becker 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (7-3).
Other seeds had mixed results, with Russian number fifth Igor Kunitsyn defeating Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman 7-5, 6-2.
Australian 205th-ranked qualifier Carsten Ball put out Frenchman Marc Gicquel 6-2, 7-5 (8-6) to next face third seed Dmitry Tursunov.
