Tennis

Baghdatis beats top-seeded Pouille at Open Sud de France

Published Feb. 7, 2019 6:32 p.m. ET

MONTPELLIER, France (AP) — Veteran Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus beat top-seeded Frenchman Lucas Pouille 7-6 (2), 6-7 (3), 6-4 on Thursday to reach the Open Sud de France quarterfinals.

Baghdatis, a 2006 Australian Open finalist, served for the match at 5-3 in the second set. But Pouille, who lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Novak Djokovic at this year's Australian Open, fought back to take it into a third set.

The 33-year-old Baghdatis next faces Radu Albot of Romania, who labored into the last eight by beating Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4.

Earlier, third-seeded Denis Shapovalov of Canada used his strong serve to beat Marcel Granollers 6-4, 7-6 (1).

The 19-year-old wild-card entry did not face break point and won 30 of his 33 first-serve points against the Spanish veteran.

Shapovalov was one of only two players to take a set from Djokovic at last month's Australian Open, but he has yet to win a career title on the ATP Tour.

He next faces seventh-seeded Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who rallied to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win against Ilya Ivashka of Belarus.

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