So much for Andy Roddick’s New Year’s resolution. The 24-year-old no. 2 seed, who came to the Australian Open vowing to swing more aggressively on service returns, played tentatively for two and a half hours on Sunday, losing to the talented but hardly menacing Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. The 20-year-old Baghdatis, a former top junior, moved on to his first quarterfinal at a Grand Slam event.

Baghdatis struck superb forehands most of the match and punished backhands down the line, making Roddick pay for continually favoring his forehand and leaving the line open. He finished the afternoon with 63 winners to Roddick’s 39, and made fewer unforced errors. For this energetic and charming player and his vocal fans, it was an inspiring victory.

Yet for all Baghdatis accomplished, the match was defined by what Roddick failed to do. He routinely set up for returns well behind the baseline, hitting short replies into the center of the court and only giving Baghdatis cause to move his feet five or six times. His forehand was long on spin and short on punch, and his backhand was more ordinary than usual. Roddick casually waited for Baghdatis to lose the match, ignoring numerous opportunities provided by an opponent who served terribly.

Signs of trouble, and tentative play, were apparent from the outset.

In the second game of the match, Baghdatis, serving for the first time, hit seven second serves and made four unforced errors. Nevertheless, he held serve after two deuces.

That Roddick did not break serve in that game was remarkable. The American put 10 returns in play, nine of them soft and around or inside the service line. Baghdatis helped the American’s cause by making four mistakes and missing his first serve on break point. Roddick had the perfect opportunity to play an aggressive shot and put Baghdatis at an early disadvantage, yet he did nothing with it.

As Baghdatis’s second serve tumbled into the box, Roddick moved backwards and to his left, striking a forehand from the outer edge of the doubles alley and no less than six feet behind the baseline. It was a loopy topspin shot much like the forehand returns he would hit all match, and Baghdatis had no trouble working his way into a rally that he eventually won with a backhand crosscourt winner after Roddick, hunkered down behind the baseline, had lunged for a ball.

Baghdatis did little to beat himself during rallies, but he did everything to give Roddick chances to break serve. For the match, he made 48% of his first serves, a horrendous percentage for a top professional (for the tournament, he has connected on only 51%). His second-serve might charitably be described as below average, hovering around 92 mph – 15 mph less than Roddick’s and with less action. Considering the number of looks Roddick had at Baghdatis’s second offering – 65 in all – he should have won more than 28 points and broken more than twice. Baghdatis’s winning percentage on second serves was slightly better than Roddick’s, .569 to .558. Unlike Roddick, he took chances on his returns, striking a handful of clean winners and turning his opponent’s pace against him.

Roddick’s reluctance to attack Baghdatis’s weak serve cannot be overstated, as a few strong replies here and there could have changed the course of the match. In the early moments of the third set, for example, a break might have caused Baghdatis to believe that defeat was inevitable.

Roddick saved a break point in the second game of the set before being aced on break point in the next game. At 2-2, he took a 15-40 lead after Baghdatis threw in his first (and last) double fault. On the next two break points, Roddick faced two second serves: On the first, he looped a forehand into the middle of the court before losing the point on an error. On the second, he plunked a short backhand in the same spot, and Baghdatis eventually smacked a forehand that forced an error. At deuce, Baghdatis unleashed another ace (he outdid Roddick in this category, too, 16 to 15).

Roddick blew a 40-30 lead in the next game, approaching at deuce on a forehand crosscourt, rather than down the line, and missing a difficult half volley. On the afternoon, Roddick won only 24 of 42 points at net, 57%, almost exclusively because of short or misplaced approaches that failed to penetrate. After a Roddick forehand error, Baghdatis had the only break he needed.

Roddick squandered more subtle opportunities in the fourth set. Baghdatis served better, increasing his first-serve percentage to 59% and winning 88% of those points (14 of 16). Roddick had only one opening, at 0-30 with Baghdatis serving at 1-2. Baghdatis forced a sitter with a strong first serve, followed it up with an ace, and closed the game with a service winner. Roddick lost the next game at love on a double fault. He had one last chance to find his way back into the match with Baghdatis serving at 4-3, 30-30. Probably feeling some pressure as he neared victory, Baghdatis rolled his weakest second serve of the match into the middle of the box. Roddick stepped up and hit a deep backhand return, but right at Baghdatis. Roddick should have ripped that ball; instead, he settled for a rally and lost.

For the entire match, Roddick attempted 124 returns, 15 to 20 of which might be described as quality returns: one that either is hit at a sharp angle, or with good depth (that is, closer to the baseline than the service line). He hit one return winner and another, a crosscourt forehand, that forced an error and gave him his first break point of the second set (he won it). Roddick did not return any better in the second set, despite what the score might suggest. Rather, he was more assertive in rallies and made the most of untimely errors by Baghdatis. If this qualifies as aggressive, Roddick ought to consider playing with abandon.

Next in line for Baghdatis is no. 7 Ivan Ljubicic, who scored an easy 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 victory over no. 10 Thomas Johansson, the champion here in 2002. Ljubicic is no better at returns than Roddick, but his two-handed backhand is formidable. Roddick hit one backhand service return down the line against Baghdatis, essentially by accident (he did not strike the ball cleanly). Expect better from Ljubicic, and expect Baghdatis, if he serves as poorly as he did against Roddick, to head for the exits.

tperrotta@nysun.com