Marcos won a marathon first-round clash against Vasek Pospisil at the Chengdu Open on Tuesday, prevailing 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 6-4 in two hours and 47 minutes.
Making his second straight appearance in Chengdu, Marcos fired eight aces and converted three of four break chances to advance past his Canadian opponent. It was an impressive comeback, having trailed by a set and a mini-break in the second set tiebreak.
Marcos would draw level in the tiebreak and a service winner forced a third set. In the decider, he seized the decisive break to love for 4-3. Marcos would reel off eight straight points and never looked back, converting his first match point as Pospisil netted a backhand.
"It’s not easy coming back from a foot injury that kept me out for five months, especially with my game which requires a lot of movement," Marcos said. "But now I’m finding better rhythm as the year is coming to an end and I will fight to get as many points as I can and break back into the Top 100. Today was a great way of doing that, especially against Vasek, who plays very aggressively and has powerful serves. I'm happy I went through but I feel a little bit bad that he was struggling with an injury during the match."
Marcos improved to 4-1 in his head-to-head against Pospisil and will next face either Peter Gojowczyk of Germany or Leonardo Mayer of Argentina. Gojowczyk is coming off lifting his first ATP World Tour trophy on Sunday in Metz.
