INDIAN WELLS: Marcos Baghdatis upset top-ranked Roger Federer 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (4) Tuesday night in the third round of the BNP Parabas Open, beating the Swiss for the first time in seven meetings.
A joyous Baghdatis bent down and kissed the court, having closed out the taut contest in which Federer blew three match points.
Federer hadn't lost when holding a match point since 2006 in Rome.
Federer lost for just the second time in 13 matches this year in his first tournament since winning his 16th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.
Federer held his third match point on Baghdatis' serve in the 12th game, but he netted a backhand for deuce. Baghdatis went up and then forced the tiebreaker when Federer mis-hit a backhand return that sailed high in the air beyond the baseline.
Federer played some loose points in the tiebreak, committing seven errors that included netting a forehand volley to set up Baghdatis' first match point, which he won when Federer's backhand return sailed long.
Baghdatis beat the No. 1-ranked player for the first time in his career.
Federer's loss leaves the tournament without its top seeds, with Svetlana Kuznetsova already knocked out on the women's side.
Andy Roddick defeated Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-4 to reach the fourth round along with Andy Murray, while second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the women's quarterfinals.
Roddick, a semifinalist here last year, improved his record to 17-3 this season, all on hardcourts. He had an easier time with de Bakker than their first meeting, a three-set win at the Australian Open in January.
Roddick served 10 aces and saved the only service break he faced in the first set of a match played in nearly 90-degree heat.
"The points he was winning he was either having to play a pretty high risk shot, maybe go for a winner, or he was having to go deep into rallies," Roddick said. "So if you do that over the course of a match, you normally like your chances."
The seventh-seeded American will next play No. 22 Jurgen Melzer, who advanced when Simon Greul withdrew because of illness.
"Jurgen is always tough. He's capable of playing a couple different ways," Roddick said. "He was capable of coming forward, attacking, really being the aggressor, which is always a little bit uncomfortable. It's important to hang on to your service games."
No. 4 Murray served seven aces and was broken just once in defeating American Michael Russell 6-3, 7-5. At 31, Russell was the oldest player remaining in the men's field.
James Blake joined Russell as another sidelined American, losing 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to Nicolas Almagro of Spain. Roddick and John Isner are the lone U.S. men left, with Isner facing a tough match against No. 3 Rafael Nadal on Wednesday.
In fourth-round women's play, No. 4 Elena Dementieva beat No. 19 Aravane Rezai of France 6-3 6-3, sixth-seeded Jelena Jankovic routed No. 17 Shahar Peer 6-2, 6-2, and No. 8 Samantha Stosur defeated defending champion Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 7-5.
Wozniacki advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 victory over 16th-seeded Nadia Petrova, whose career record against top-five players dropped to 11-42 with the loss.
"It was a match where it just went up and down quite a bit, and I didn't really know what to expect," she said. "It was not really a great rhythm there. I didn't feel the ball as well."
The Dane will play Zheng Jie of China, who defeated Alicia Molik, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (1).
Wozniacki is the highest seeded woman left, with Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin among the big names already gone.
No. 5 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland beat Marion Bartoli, 6-3, 6-2, to reach the quarters for the third consecutive year. Radwanska and Stosur are the only remaining female players who have yet to drop a set.
Other men's winners included No. 8 Robin Soderling, No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Tommy Robredo.
