Marcos Baghdatis defeated Serbian second seed Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-1 on Saturday at the ATP Malaysian Open to reach his first final of a disappointing 2011 season. The Cypriot, who reached the final of the Australian Open five years ago, has dropped from 20th to 60th this season but has shown a return to form this week at the Putra Stadium.
Baghdatis will await a winner from the match between Serb third seed Janko Tipsarevic and Japanese eighth seed Kei Nishikori, who upset top seed Nicolas Almagro in a quarter-final comeback. Baghdatis, winner of four career titles, took just under 90 minutes for his semi-final victory, advancing into the title match on the first of two match points. Baghdatis, 26, improved to 25-22 on the season.