Photo: Cyprus Tennis Federation
Marcos paired up with Photos Kallias on Saturday to win the crucial doubles rubber of Cyprus’s Davis Cup second-round tie with Ireland in Nicosia. The Cypriot duo defeated Ireland’s James McGee and Colin O’Brien 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.
It was Marcos and Kallias’ fourth successive win together in a Davis Cup doubles tie, taking Marcos’ doubles record in the ITF team competition to 15-9.
"We played one of our best doubles matches so far in our Davis Cup history," enthused Marcos afterwards. "We are very happy and this is the reason you saw us smiling on court. We play well together since we grew up playing with each other.
"The pain in my left knee disappeared and I was more confident today. I stepped and moved much better on court and this gave me the necessary confidence to hit the ball faster in the third and fourth set.
"Tomorrow, we need to focus on our singles matches and we hope that we can celebrate all together at the end."
Victory for Cyprus means it now just needs one win from the remaining two rubbers to secure its place in the third round of Europe/Africa Group II.
Marcos will take to the court in the first if the reverse singles against Conor Niland and will hope to record his 34th Davis Cup singles win by securing an unassailable 3-1 lead for Cyprus.
Play gets underway at the National Tennis Centre at 4pm local time on Sunday. Stay tuned to www.baghdatis.com for all the latest news.
Go, Marcos!
