Photo: Henk Koster, ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
Marcos’ campaign at the Open 13 in Marseille came to an end on Wednesday as he was beaten 7-6(6), 6-4 by 2009 runner-up Michael Llodra in the second round.
With the full support of the French crowd behind him, Llodra did well to prevail in a first set dominated by Marcos. Marcos broke his French opponent’s serve in the first game and went on to establish a 3-1 lead. However, the No. 79-ranked Llodra hit back to level in the sixth game as his aggressive, net-rushing tactics paid dividends.
Marcos was denied on two break point chances in the seventh game, and was forced to save a set point when serving at 5-6 before a tie-break decided the first set. A rifling backhand winner from Marcos earned him two set points at 6-4, but he could not convert and Llodra was quick to capitalise, converting his first set point at 7-6 by smashing away a lob.
In a tense and closely fought second set, Llodra was the player able to make the breakthrough as he broke serve in the ninth game to lead 5-4 courtesy of a blistering backhand return winner down the line. The left-hander then closed out victory on his third match point after one hour and 38 minutes to seal a place in the quarter-finals of the ATP World Tour 250 tournament.
Marcos will now turn his attentions to the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, where he will share the field with six of the Top 10 players in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings, including Australian Open champion Roger Federer. The ATP World Tour 500 tournament begins on Monday in Dubai.
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