China's national champion Zeng Shaoxuan walked off court with his head held high despite losing to defending champion Marcos Baghdatis at the China Open on Tuesday.

China's Zeng Shaoxuan returns the ball during his game against Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus during the 2007 China Open yesterday in Beijing. [Xinhua]The 26-year-old local qualifier, competing in his first second-round match at an ATP tournament, pushed the Cypriot hard before conceding 7-6 (7/3), 7-5.

"I played at my highest level," Zeng said after the match.

"I didn't give myself any pressure, and I just try to play aggressive and go to the net as much as possible.

"I think my tactics paid off as I kept on pushing him and had a lot of winners from the net."

The third-seeded Baghdatis, who won his first ATP title here last year, is ranked some 700 spots higher than his opponent, but the match was not as lop-sided as the ratings gap suggests.

In front of 3,000 home fans crowd, Zeng hung on at 3-3 after exchanging breaking serves with his more fancied opponent in the first set.

He opted for an all-out serve-and-volley attack that made Baghdatis uncomfortable under the constant pressure.

The 26-year-old from Jiangsu rallied from triple breakpoint down in the tenth game to hold and pull even; then seized a 6-5 lead as the drama built. But in the tiebreak Zeng opened the door to Baghdatis with five consecutive unforced errors.

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