Finland defeats Cyprus 3-2 in Davis Cup

Cyprus lost to Finland 3-2 in the weekend's Davis Cup tennis series in Nicosia despite of two singles wins by its ace Marcos Baghdatis.

Baghdatis, ranked 18th in the world, beat Jarkko Nieminen from Finland 6-2, 6-4 and 6-3 on Sunday following an opening match win on Friday over Juho Paukku 6-3, 6-3 and 7-6 (3).

However, in the second game on Sunday, his teammate Photos Kallias lost to energetic Finnish Timo Paukku 6-2, 2-6, 0-6 and 1-6, dashing the host team's hope to win the decisive fifth game in the first round Europe/Africa Zone Group II 2007.

Kallias, teamed with Baghdatis, also lost to their Finnish rivals in the doubles on Saturday after being defeated by Nieminen in the singles on Friday.

Cyprus and Finland had met only once before in the Davis Cup and that was 20 years ago in Helsinki when the hosts had no trouble sweeping to a 5-0 victory.