Not many folks would recognize Leshem’s name even if you repeatedly shout his name in their ears. Leshem’s a huge underdog coming into this match against a much more experienced opponent in Baghdatis, but he’s cobbled up some wins of late to put some cushion on his confidence.
Born in New York but of Israeli descent, Leshem beat Alejandro Gonzalez and Alex Rybakov to qualify for the main draw. In the finals of the qualifiers against Gonzalez, Leshem had a poor service game, putting in just 49 percent of his first serves though he converted 38 percent (3 of 8) of his break points.
Leshem hasn’t played in an ATP Tour main draw to date but has been successful competing in the futures circuit. Thus far this year, Leshem is 36-10 on hard court matches played outside of ATP Tour events.
Sure, he lost his last outing and doesn’t have the momentum Leshem is enjoying right now, but do you really think that the veteran Cypriot would lose sleep over an impending match against a 20-year-old Leshem?
Baghdatis has been playing the sport at the top level for so long, however, to know better than underestimate his opponents.
Ranked 77th in the world, Baghdatis was last seen on a tennis court walking away with a 6-3, 7-5 loss at the hands of Kyle Edmund in the recently concluded Atlanta Open. While he has yet to win a title this year, he managed to reach the semifinals round of the Antalya Open, losing to eventual champion Yuichi Sugita in the said round. He also reached the semis in Auckland (hard court) back in February.
Writer’s Prediction
Baghdatis takes care of his assignment with a win in straight sets.
