Marcos Baghdatis battles his way to a win at Farmers Classic

Marcos Baghdatis hadn’t won a tennis match since May, in the second round of the French Open when he beat Marcel Granollers and just before he lost to Andy Murray.

What followed were first-round losses at Halle in Germany, Den Bosch in the Netherlands and Wimbledon and a very unsuccessful trip through the grass-court season.

And so Baghdatis, once a finalist at the Australian Open and the third-seeded player this week at the Farmers Classic at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, was enthusiastically pleased with a hard-fought win Wednesday.

Baghdatis, a 25-year-old from Cyprus who can produce streaks of athletic and captivating tennis followed almost immediately by sloppy and seemingly uncaring shots, fought from behind to beat wild-card entry Ryan Sweeting, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Baghdatis’ loss of a set wasn’t the only moment of uncertainty for the favored singles players Wednesday. Defending champion and second-seeded Sam Querrey wandered away from his two-hour, 14-minute match against South African Kevin Anderson before recovering his form to win, 7-6 (8), 4-6, 6-0.

Serbia’s sixth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic also advanced by beating Somdev Devvarman of India, 7-6 (9), 6-2.

The tournament’s top-seeded player, Murray, will play his first match Thursday at 7:30 against American Tim Smyczek.

The Camarillo team of Bob and Mike Bryan, who are one tournament away from winning the most doubles titles in history, took their opening match, 6-3, 6-4, over Mardy Fish and Mark Knowles. The Bryans are tied with Australians Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge with 61 career tournament wins.

Baghdatis, 25, seemed on a path to becoming a major tournament contender when he reached the Australian Open final in 2006, where a loss to Roger Federer was more a badge of honor than a disappointment. Baghdatis reached a career-high ranking of No. 8 in the world the next August, but his career since has been marked more by injuries than remarkable victories.

Winning a match without playing his best tennis, Baghdatis said Wednesday, was a good moment.

“I’m really happy about that,” he said. “I felt really bad on the court, so it’s good to win a match when I feel bad.”

Sweeting said the momentum of the match changed in the second set when Baghdatis began moving farther behind the service line and taking bigger swings.

“I started out playing well in the first set,” he said. “Then he started to serve better. I had chances in the second set to get up a break, but he came up with some good serves and he took a few steps back on my serve and that changed the whole dynamic.”

The Bryan brothers won their 13th match in a row on the Straus Stadium court.

“It was our first competitive match since Wimbledon,” Mike Bryan said. “We still get goosebumps when we see a few familiar faces. I don’t think we played our best tennis, but we hit a few clutch shots. Bob hit a good stab volley at the end.”

diane.pucin@latimes.com

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