体坛英语新闻：Zheng earns berth in the quarterfinals as Federer bows out

BEIJING, March 18 -- Top-ranked Roger Federer wasted three match points and then lost to Marcos Baghdatis 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (4) on Tuesday night in a third-round upset at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California.

On the women's side, China's Zheng Jie defeated Australia's Alicia Molik 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (1) to set up a quarterfinal match with second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki.

The Dane advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 victory over 16th-seeded Nadia Petrova.

Zheng hits a return at the WTA tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California Zheng Jie of China hits a return to Alicia Molik of Australia during their match at the Indian Wells WTA tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California March 16, 2010.

But the day belonged to Baghdatis. He bent down and kissed the court after his first win over Federer in seven matches.

Federer hadn't lost when having a match point since 2006 in Rome.

It was the Swiss star's second loss in 13 matches this year, and in his first tournament since winning his 16th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.

Federer had 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 mishit a backhand return that sailed high over the baseline.

Federer played some loose points in the tiebreaker, committing seven errors that included netting a forehand volley to give Baghdatis a match point, which the Cypriot converted as Federer's backhand return sailed long.