There must be something special about the city of Nottingham that has Marcos playing at his best. One year removed from winning his first grass-court ATP Challenger Tour title there, he cruised into the quarter-finals of the Aegon Open Nottingham, an ATP World Tour 250 event.
Marcos did not drop a set in winning the Challenger title last year and the trend is continuing this week. On Wednesday, he dismissed surging teen Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-3 in 65 minutes in the Nottingham third round. He fired four aces, won a whopping 93 per cent of first serve points (28/30), while converting on three of four break chances. He denied the lone break point faced on his serve.
The win comes a day after Marcos sprung the upset of the tournament in downing top seed David Ferrer in straight sets. It was his 20th victory over a Top 10 opponent and seventh over a top seed on the ATP World Tour.
Marcos will contest his fourth match in four days when he faces Simone Bolelli in the quarter-finals. The World No. 56 Italian has won both previous meetings, on the clay of Roland Garros in 2008 and the hard courts of Miami earlier this year. A strong clay-court player, Bolelli has only won 14 matches on grass in his career.
