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Baghdatis, Tipsarevic reach Malaysia Open final

Dunya News

Marcos Baghdatis set up a Malaysian Open final against Janko Tipsarevic.

Janko Tipsarevic saved Serbian pride on Saturday as he beat Japans Kei Nishikori 6-4, 6-3 to set up a Malaysian Open final against Marcos Baghdatis.Cypriot Baghdatis, who was runner-up to Roger Federer in the 2006 Australian Open final, had earlier defeated Serbias second seed Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-1, leaving Tipsarevic with a mission on court at the Putra StadiumTipsarevic has played -- and beaten -- Nishikori five times this season on hardcourt, clay, grass and now indoors.The Japanese number one made a run at another upset scenario in the wake of his semi-final defeat of top seed Nicolas Almagro, but Tiposarevic was having none of it.The Serb closed out the victory in just under two hours as he saved all six break points he faced to nullify the Nishikori attack.Baghdatis is turning around a disappointing 2011 season in which he has dropped from 20th to 60th, reaching his first final since Moscow a year ago.Baghdatis has put in a patchy effort since January but he has not lost a set this week in the Malaysian capital on his way to eliminating two seeds, number six Alex Bogomolov and number four Jurgen Melzer.Baghdatis, winner of four career titles, took just under 90 minutes for his semi-final victory, advancing to the title match on the first of two match points.The winner saved five of the seven break points he faced while cracking the Troicki serve six times to take a 2-1 lead in their series, with the previous matches played in 2010.