Baghdatis Reaches Malaysian Open Second Round

Marcos Baghdatis beat Japan's Nei Nishikori 6-1, 6-1 to reach the second round of Malaysian Open on Tuesday. The 24-year old Tennis star from Cyprus was playing his first match following a month's absence.

Baghdatis admitted after the match that the competition was harder that it seemed. "I had to stay focused and concentrate on the game as I have not played for four weeks," he said, while adding that "I'm happy with the way I responded to Kei's challenge and even happier that I didn't give him a chance to find a way into the match. I'm still finding my feet out there and to have won in straight sets is good for me".

Baghdatis, who earlier participated in a photo shoot at Kuala Lumpur Bird Park to promote the event, jokingly said that being with the birds allowed him to get ready for the game. "I'm afraid of birds ... maybe that experience made it easier to face Kei as I had lost all my (nerves)", he claimed.

Now Baghdatis will face Santiago Giraldo of Columbia in the second round.

Also on Tuesday, the other two qualifiers- Miloc Raonic of Canada and Igor Andreev of Russia- made it through to the next round with superb victories. Raonic thrashed Igor Kunitsyn of Russia 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, while Andreev defeated Go Soeda of Japan 6-1, 6-4.

After Malaysian Open, players will play at Shanghai Masters next week.