Stricken Baghdatis beats Simon in Dubai

Dubai: Food poisoning could not stop Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis from defeating eighth seed Gilles Simon 7-6, 6-4 in the first round of the Dubai tennis championships on Monday.

"I was concentrating on not throwing up on court," the 24-year-old said. "I was suffering from food poisoning and had cramps in my stomach."After the first nine games went with serve, the stricken former Australian Open runner-up left the court at 4-5 down, with the score at 40-15, before returning to serve out the game and then immediately break the Frenchman, who was struggling with a chest injury. Simon responded, breaking back to force a tie-break, but the world number 18 hit a series of unforced errors and allowed Baghdatis to take it 7-3. At 4-5 in the second set, Simon saved a match point with a delicate drop shot but Baghdatis was not to be denied as his opponent hit a wide forehand to gift the world number 37 the match. "I had many opportunities but every time I was close I just did too many mistakes," said Simon. "The last game he didn`t have to do anything, (I) just did four mistakes." Baghdatis will face either Italy`s Marco Chiudinelli or qualifier Somdev Devvarman of India in Wednesday`s second round. Roger Federer, who should have been the top seed at the tournament, pulled out on Sunday because of a lung infection. Second seed Novak Djokovic and number three Andy Murray join the action later on Monday. Spain`s Feliciano Lopez, twice a finalist here, suffered a shock first-round defeat, losing to qualifier Stefan Koubek.The Austrian won 7-6, 6-4, beating the world number 34 in a closely contested match. Bureau Report