Photo: Thomas Guenther
An in-form Roger Federer ended Marcos’ run at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters on Saturday evening with a 6-4, 6-3 victory in the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament.
Defeat brings to an end a marvellous week for Marcos in Cincinnati, which has seen him defeat No. 11 seed Marin Cilic, World No. 7 Tomas Berdych and No. 1 Rafael Nadal. He is now projected to rise to No. 18 in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings on Monday.
"It was a great week for me and now I'm back in the Top 20 and I felt great," said Marcos. "I am fit and playing top guys well. I played three Top 10 guys and one Top 15 (Cilic) in the first round this week. And playing those matches without any pain, is a bonus for me. I have to continue the way I'm working and just be patient and more success will come. I don't have to think about any points or rankings and my ranking will go up by itself."
Their lead in to the semi-final could not have been more different, with Federer playing only one and a half matches compared to four tough tests for Marcos. However, It was enough for Federer, a finalist last week in Toronto, to work his way into top form and he had Marcos under pressure virtually throughout the match.
Marcos was able to keep the Swiss at bay until the 10th game of the first set, but could not continue to find an answer to the Basel native’s aggressive chip and charge tactics as he broke serve to seal a one-set lead.
Federer got a look at a lot of second serves from Marcos in the second set and the pressure finally told for Marcos in the eighth game as Federer broke through. Sadly for Marcos, there was to be no repeat of the comeback he staged against Federer in Indian Wells earlier this year as the Swiss third seed then confidently served out the match after 70 minutes.
"I was feeling OK out there but Roger was serving well," reflected Marcos. "He didn't give me any chances. I was a little unlucky at 5-4 and he broke me there and then he was more relaxed in the second set. He played very good. He didn't give me any rhythm and my serve was not working so well. He deserved the victory tonight.
"I was hitting the ball well but he made me feel like I had no solutions. He played really smart. He played really aggressive and it wasn't my day today and I couldn't push him to making mistakes."
Marcos will look to add a few more wins to his tally ahead of the US Open when he competes as the top seed at next week’s Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven. Stay tuned to www.baghdatis.com for a closer look at the draw for that ATP World Tour 250 tournament, which begins on Sunday.
Go, Marcos!
