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MELBOURNE - Marcos Baghdatis must wonder whether he should just stick a Seven Eleven sign on his head and be done with it.
The man who has become as common a sight in the early hours at Melbourne Park as the cleaners was at it again this morning.
But tennis' Cypriot showman could at least see the funny side as he bowed out in the fourth round to defending champion Novak Djokovic 6-1 7-6 (7-1) 6-7 (7-5) 6-2.
"I'd like to thank the tournament director. My aim was to get to the second week and I made it by a bit - by three hours," Baghdatis said jokingly of the quirks of scheduling he has been subjected to, which he describes as "a pain in the arse".
Jelena Dokic's epic three-hour win over Russian Alisa Kleybanova meant Baghdatis and Djokovic's match on Rod Laver Arena didn't begin until after 11pm yesterday (1am today NZST) and finished just before 2.30am this morning (4.30am NZST).
Baghdatis has become familiar with the Melbourne Park nightshift, featuring in a five-set, dawn-welcoming epic with Lleyton Hewitt last year.
He also had to rebound from another early finish on Saturday morning, with his third round match against American Mardy Fish also starting in Friday's witching hour.
But Baghdatis didn't blame fatigue or scheduling for his defeat against Djokovic - rather his lack of belief he can beat the top players since resuming from a long injury layoff last year.
"I have one regret in that I didn't believe I could win this match and that pisses me off a little bit," Baghdatis said.
"I don't have a lot of confidence in me and I think it's because I didn't play for seven months."
Baghdatis' ranking has slipped to No. 97 after wrist and back injuries cruelled his 2008.
But after a slow start in which Djokovic caned him 6-1 in a 25-minute first set, the 23-year-old showed glimpses of the brilliance which got him to the 2006 final.
He raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set, before world No.3 Djokovic steadied and fought back to take the set to a tie-break he won emphatically 7-1.
Baghdatis then gained revenge in the third set tie-break, launching some phenomenal winners when they mattered to win the set and stay alive.
But the Serbian broke Baghdatis' serve in the opening game of the set, and added a second break in the seventh before serving out the match.
Djokovic now faces seventh seed Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals.
- AAP
