Photo: Ron C. Angle
Marcos is through to the second round of the Medibank International after dismissing Australian wild card Nick Lindahl 6-2, 7-5 on Monday afternoon in Sydney.
In a strong opening set against the young Australian, eager to impress the home crowd, Marcos broke serve twice, playing particularly well off the backhand side and welcoming a succession of unforced errors from the inexperienced Lindahl.
Capitalising on his momentum straight away, Marcos began the second set in perfect fashion with a backhand winner down the line on the opening point before going on to break Lindahl’s serve to 15.
To his credit, the 21-year-old Lindahl did not fold and began to put Marcos under pressure on serve, earning a break point chance in the second game and managing to draw level in the fourth game courtesy of a double fault from Marcos.
Lindahl’s level and consistency improved as he grew in confidence, making it difficult for Marcos to regain his advantage. The Australian denied Marcos on three break point chances in the seventh game before later establishing a 5-4 lead in the set.
As the top players do, though, Marcos raised his level and intensity at just the right time. He was not to lose another point as he levelled at 5-5, broke the Lindahl serve to lead 6-5 – benefitting from four unforced errors – and serving out the victory to love, closing with a forehand cross-court passing shot after 80 minutes.
Afterwards, Marcos felt there were areas of his game he could improve, but was happy to emerge with a quick win.
“I didn't play that good. I mean, I didn't serve very well. [I] had a low percentage of first serves. [I] wasn't feeling too good on the serve, but felt good at the baseline. [I] played some good points, [and was] moving well.
“[I] got a match of one hour and 15 [minutes] in the heat, which is good. So there are a lot of positive things [to take] out of this match and some negatives. I'll work on the negative ones and keep the positive ones. The crowd was great. I always love coming here."
Marcos will now have a day off before facing either sixth seed Viktor Troicki or Frenchman Florent Serra on Wednesday for a place in the quarter-finals of the ATP World Tour 250 tournament.
"I'm looking forward to my next match," said Marcos. "The only thing I know is I saw after the match that my next opponent is Serra or Troicki, so I'll focus on that. I don't want to think about winning the tournament yet. I want to play matches, win all the matches I can. That's my objective.”
Stay tuned to www.baghdatis.com for all the latest from Sydney.
Go, Marcos!
