Photo: Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships
Marcos advanced to the semi-finals of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships on Thursday after cruising past German Michael Berrer 7-6(5), 6-1 at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament.
For a place in the final, Marcos will take on World No. 2 Novak Djokovic, who battled from a set down to defeat Ivan Ljubicic in the first night session match. It will be Marcos’ second appearance in an ATP World Tour semi-final this season; he also reached the last four in Sydney, where he went on to win the title.
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Playing against Berrer for the second time, Marcos frequently put the German under pressure on serve in the first set, but was unable to get the breakthrough. He held three break points in the seventh game, and was denied on a fourth chance in the ninth game before Berrer forced a decisive tie-break.
Undeterred, Marcos played a solid tie-break to keep Berrer on the back foot and constantly behind in the score as he earned a 6-4 lead. He converted his second set point as an excellent lob under pressure saw Berrer miscue a backhand smash.
“I wasn’t too worried [about the first set],” said Marcos. “It was important to win the first set but I wasn’t worried too much because I was serving pretty well, I didn’t have any break points on my serve and I had so many on his serve. I was feeling that I was on top. I was happy I won the tie-break; I didn’t want to have to fight back and win in three.”
An epic second game of the second set proved to be the turning point in the tight match. Berrer saved five break points before Marcos deservedly broke through, converting his sixth break point chance with a piercing forehand crosscourt passing shot to open up a 2-0 lead.
Two-love quickly became 5-0 as Marcos secured the double break advantage when his under-fire opponent buckled under the constant pressure with a double fault in the fourth game. Marcos had two match points in the sixth game, and although he was denied by strong play from Berrer, he comfortably wrapped up victory in the following game after one hour and 38 minutes.
“After the tie-break I kept playing well; he couldn’t handle it any more and started making mistakes and giving me free points,” reflected Marcos. “I kept the ball in court, played pretty good tennis and I’m very happy.”
Marcos was especially impressive on serve, winning 90 per cent of points behind his first serve and not facing a single break point, compared to the 15 break point chances he created on World No. 56 Berrer’s serve.
“Today I am feeling much better and I think I’m going to feel much better tomorrow,” said Marcos, who has struggled with food poisoning throughout the week. “Yesterday was a tough day, I had a tough match, I wasn’t playing very well. I was feeling very, very weak. Last night I drank a lot, I rested today, I slept around 12 hours last night and today so I was feeling pretty energised out there.”
Marcos will look to overturn a 0-3 head-to-head record against defending champion Djokovic when they meet in the semi-finals on Friday. Their last meeting came at the 2009 Australian Open, when Marcos lost out in four sets. He also pushed Djokovic to five tight sets in the 2007 Wimbledon quarter-finals.
Marcos vs. Djokovic: Head-to-Head
“Novak is a great player,” complimented Marcos. “You can see it when the important points are there; he’s playing his best tennis and that’s where a great player is. I will just enjoy my victory today, start talking about the match tomorrow with my coach and I will try to find a tactic to find the solution to win against Novak.”
The match will take place not before 7:00 pm local time (+4 hours GMT) on centre court on Friday evening in Dubai. Check out the full order of play here.
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Go, Marcos!
