Baghdatis on strong run with Sydney title

SYDNEY, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Cypriot Marco Baghdatis won his third title in four tournaments with a two-set victory Saturday over Richard Gasquet in the Medibank International in Sydney.

Baghdatis claimed a 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) win in the Medibank finals, despite having to wait through a 75-minute rain delay in the second set. He had his serve broken just once -- that coming after the delay -- in picking up $67,260 and his fourth career championship.

The bulk of those titles have come in recent months. He won his last two tournaments in 2009, taking first at Stockholm, Sweden, and Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He lost in the second round in opening 2010 at Brisbane, Australia, but was 5-0 in Sydney, building a 16-1 record over his last four tournaments and momentum heading into the Australia Open, which begins Monday.

He used the only break of the first set to eke out an advantage and was up 5-2 in the second when play was halted. Gasquet rallied after the storm passed and forced a tiebreaker but Baghdatis controlled that and took the title.

Gasquet, a Frenchman who had been seeking to even his ATP Finals match record at 6-6, took home $35,400.