Marcos Baghdatis was in top form as he swept past Florian Mayer 6-3 6-3 in a mere 58 minutes.

Hopes of an all-German semi-final was thwarted by the eighth seeded Cypriot who today had all the answers to anything that the versatile German could conjure up either from the baseline or in the forecourt.

A backhand pass that ripped past Mayer like a tracer bullet in the third game helped to set up two break points at 15-40 which Baghdatis converted at the first opportunity when his opponent netted a sliced backhand off a low ball.

Serving at 4-3, Baghdatis saved a break point with a 207 km/h ace out wide and held serve from there to maintain his advantage.

Baghdatis was in full flow once again in the next Mayer game; a corker of forehand return down the line beat the hapless German for a clean winner. He followed that up at 15-30 with a thunderous two-handed backhand return crosscourt that beat Mayer for pace, forcing the error. The German capitulated on the next point to concede the set with a forehand going long.

Games went with serve in the second set until at 30-30 and serving at 3-4, Mayer chipped his unorthodox two-handed backhand volley long to give Baghdatis a vital break point chance. The German cracked under pressure in the next point, sending a mistimed backhand well long to collective groans from the home fans.

Baghdatis serving for the match closed it out in style to love, with an ace out wide and raised his arms in jubilation of his outstanding performance.

Looking like the favourite should he maintain this type of form, Baghdatis agreed that it was by far his best performance so far this tournament.

"I played very solid; was returning very well, serving very well and moving very well", Baghdatis said. "I did everything well I guess, so I'm pretty happy.

"Today I had the match under control the whole match, so I didn't give him the chance to come back which is very important when you play a guy who is playing at home."

Baghdatis, who reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon, agreed that his game is tailor made for grass.

"The ball comes nice and flat which I like; my backhand is very good on grass because I play short and fast and flat and the ball is low; I return very good and I serve very well. That's what you have to do on grass, so I guess that's why."

Looking ahead to his match with Kohlschreiber who has beaten him twice on clay, Baghdatis is well prepared to deal with the challenge on grass.

"I will try to do the same thing as today and be in control of the match from the beginning and don't give him a chance to come into the match so the crowd will stay pretty calm."

Listen to what Marcos said to press conference after that match in our audio section.

Andre Jones
Gerry Weber Stadium
Halle