ANALYSIS: Dominic Thiem is coming for the big three, but he's far from the first to try
From outside the top 50, Baghdatis reached the final on the back of wins over top-10 players Andy Roddick, Ivan Ljubicic and David Nalbandian — all excellent players, but mortals. When it came to Federer in the final, the electricity generated by his shock run propelled the Cypriot to a 7-5 win in the first set, but once that energy subsided Federer took over and won the next three sets, including 13 of the last 15 games.
Gonzalez's run was perhaps the least surprising of the lot, considering he was the 10th seed, but still took the tennis world by storm thanks to his power and who he beat. The La Reina Bomber brushed aside Aussie hope Lleyton Hewitt, fifth-ranked American James Blake, Nadal and German veteran Tommy Haas in successive matches, before getting dominated by Federer in three sets.
Tsonga's 2008 final match-up with Djokovic was perhaps the closest of the lot. Ranked 38th, he beat Murray in the first round and Nadal in straight sets in the semis, then took the first set off Djokovic, who at this point didn't have a major to his name. Djokovic won three sets straight to take the match, but he was pushed to a tiebreak in the fourth by the athletic and exciting Tsonga, who was probably the least"flash in the pan" of this category.
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