Marcos’ Australian Open singles campaign came to an end on Friday night in Melbourne as he was beaten by World No. 4 David Ferrer, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3, in the third round. Ferrer said afterwards, “I played my best match of the week. To beat Marco I had to play my best tennis, and I did.”
Ferrer, who enjoyed a career-best season in 2012, has started this year in blistering form and was relentless against Marcos on Rod Laver Arena. The Valencia native was focussed throughout and gave Marcos little opportunity to disrupt his rhythm.
Marcos rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the first set to level, but from there, the 30-year-old Ferrer stepped up another level, winning eight of the next ten games to take a commanding two set lead. Marcos fought back from an early break down in the thirds set, but could not keep Ferrer at bay for long in the cool, slow conditions, and the Spaniard finished with a flourish in just under two hours.
“He played very good today, one of his best matches,” said Marcos. “It was really tough out there, the court and the balls were so slow because of the weather; it was so cold. Because of that, I couldn't get him off his hitting zone and I couldn’t win any free points with my serve. It made my fight a bit more difficult. He was in the zone.
“I think I tried to do many things. The second set I tried to be aggressive and get to the net, but he closed the door on me. He found a way to win.”
Despite the loss, Marcos remains positive about his improvement in the past few months, and is hopefully of a return to the Top 10 in the Emirates ATP Rankings if he can continue in this vein.
“I think there is a little way to go. I don't think I am at the Top 10 level at the moment, but I don’t think it's impossible. I’ve shown that I can play very good. I’m very healthy and fit.
“I think I’m happy with the week [in Melbourne,” he continued. “The goal was to go to the second week, but I’m playing good tennis, very happy with the way I’m playing. I want to continue this way of playing. If I do that, I can get back to the Top 20, and why not Top 15 and Top 10?”
Marcos is not finished yet in Melbourne, though. He and Grigor Dimitrov resume their doubles campaign on Saturday against fourth seeds Max Mirnyi and Horia Tecau. The second-round match has been scheduled for fourth on Court 7, with play beginning at 11am local time (GMT +11hrs).
Stay tuned to www.baghdatis.com.
