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Crowd favourite Marcos Baghdatis blamed his poor fitness after crashing out of the Brisbane International in the first round at Pat Rafter Arena.
But the 2006 Australian Open finalist still believed he could again be a second-week giant-killer at Melbourne Park this month after a fortnight of hard yakka.
Hamstring tightness and a lack of match play following a horror injury year cost Baghdatis badly as he fell 5-7 6-1 6-4 to steady Finn Jarkko Nieminen.
It was also a heavy blow for the organisers of the inaugural tournament which has marketed the popular Cypriot as one of their main drawcards.
Baghdatis battled it out to the end of the two-hour clash, regaining one break from Nieminen in the deciding set but eventually paid the price for his erratic big serve.
He started brightly to take the opening set and was justifiably well pleased by his groundstrokes but his game fell apart soon after.
Baghdatis called for the trainer after his second set capitulation but denied a hamstring problem cost him the match, instead saying his recovery from a nasty back injury which has seen his world ranking blow out to No.98 had left him underdone.
“Not my leg, physically I wasn’t pretty fit,” he said. “I’m not match fit and it’s the thing I need to work on for the next 15 days before my next tournament.
“The way I’m hitting the ball is good. Tactically, maybe work on it a bit more.
“I’m tired but I must keep on working on it. After tomorrow come back on court and just work, work, work.”
An upset but optimistic Baghdatis admitted the hamstring tightness did impact on his serve as he became particularly vulnerable on his second serves.
“That’s where the leg was a bit (sore), pushing me down I couldn’t push on the left one but I’m happy I played a very good first set,” he said.
“I played my game and it was the first set of the year and for a long time so I’m pretty happy with the way I was playing.
The fact he pushed world No.38 Nieminen all the way and has at least two matches against strong opponents at the Kooyong Classic has him confident about another Melbourne Park assault.
“I think that’s the main thing and then the small differences in my game will come because I will be able to feel match fit and more confident on court,” he said.
“I would love to be in the second week that’s for sure but it depends on the draw and a bit of luckiness.
“Last year I had a tough draw (losing a third round marathon to Lleyton Hewitt), I hope this year I will be a bit more lucky.”
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