Sydney International Loses Defending Champion Baghdatis to Injury

Added by Tania Sullivan on January 9, 2011

Fans who were hoping to see Marcos Baghdatis defend his title at the Sydney International on Monday were disappointed when the second seeded player pulled out of the tournament with a groin strain.

The player from Cyprus who reached the finals of the 2006 Australian Open before losing it said that he did not want to risk aggravating his injury before the Grand Slam.

While it would have made a greater preparatory tournament, the player’s left groin has acted up and he has been in pain for four days.

Hence, he decided to call it off to avoid the risk of participating and making the injury any worse.

The world number 21 player had waltzed into the second round with a bye. Now, he will be replaced by Lukas Kubot from Poland who was the lucky loser.

Marcos Baghdatis is the defending champion of the $422,000 tournament and was understandably disappointed at his inability to defend his title.

He has been playing well ever since he lost to Roger Federer in the2006 final of the Australian Open.

He went on to win 4 top titles of repute and was ranked world number 8 in August, 2006. This has been his highest ranking till date.