Photo: Ron C. Angle
Marcos is through to the second round of the Proton Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur 2009 after edging past Chinese Taipei’s Yen-Hsun Lu 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) on Monday at the ATP World Tour 250 indoor hard-court tournament.
The No. 75-ranked Lu raced into a 5-2 lead in the first set after breaking serve twice. Marcos recovered one of the breaks as he reduced the deficit to 5-4, but could not prevent his 26-year-old opponent from taking the one-set lead as he served out for 6-4.
Marcos was quick to hit back in the second set, breaking to lead 3-1. Lu continued to fight hard, with many games going to deuce, and Marcos was forced to save break points before levelling the match at one-set-all as he clinched the second set 6-3.
After saving a break point in the first game of the third set, Marcos turned the tables on Lu as he broke serve to lead 2-1. However, Marcos’ fourth double fault of the match proved costly as he handed the break back to Lu at 3-3.
Marcos immediately recovered himself though and broke again to lead 4-3. He held two match points in the ninth game as Lu served to stay in contention, but could not convert and was made to pay the price as Lu then broke Marcos when he served for the match, and held more match points, at 5-4.
With the nerves showing towards the end, Marcos once more broke serve and had the chance to close out victory as he held match points at 6-5. But Lu hit back again to force a deciding tie-break. In a nail-biting finale, Marcos reached match point first in the tie-break as he led 6-5 and this time he converted to seal victory after two hours and 49 minutes.
Marcos now goes on to face either Spanish No. 7 seed David Ferrer or Russian Mikhail Youzhny in the second round.
Speaking prior to the tournament, Marcos said: “Injuries have interrupted my career but I am 100 per cent fit now. I am determined to make a strong comeback. I thank the Malaysian Open organisers for offering me a wild card.
“My goal here is to win as many matches to earn ranking points. My goals before next year are to return to the top-80 bracket on the ATP Tour ranking."
Stay tuned to www.baghdatis.com for the latest news and photos from Kuala Lumpur.
Go, Marcos!
