Photo: Jag Gundu
Marcos cut a frustrated figure in Toronto today as he crashed out to big-hitting Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy, in a tight three-set match, 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4). After defeat in last week’s final, Marcos struggled to find a period of sustained momentum, allowing the promising Chardy to unleash some huge forehands and chalk up an impressive victory.
Marcos was circumspect in the first set, waiting for his nervous opponent to make mistakes, and he appeared in control after gaining a 5-2 lead. However, this allowed Chardy to cut loose and some impressive groundstrokes put Marcos under pressure when he served at 5-3. Marcos double-faulted at the crucial time, thus handing the break of serve and subsequent momentum back to his opponent. After that, Marcos struggled to contain Chardy who went on to claim the first set.
Marcos started the second set with renewed vigour, and showed an inclination to play a more aggressive style of tennis that paid immediate dividends, as he raced into a 4-0 lead. Some impressive volleying proved too much for Chardy, and Marcos closed out the set, 6-2, without further incident.
However, Marcos seemed to become increasingly frustrated as the third set went on and he failed to get ahead of his opponent, despite having break points when leading 3-2. Some closely disputed line-calls seemed to mentally pre-occupy the Cypriot, though he was still the favourite to win going into a third set tie-break. Nevertheless, in the lottery of the tie-break, Marcos failed to get the slice of luck he needed, and Chardy was able to claim a hard fought victory, winning 7-4 in the breaker.
It is clear that Marcos has many more levels to his game than he exhibited tonight, but was unable to reach the heights of last week, and will be bitterly disappointed to not continue his good form. As ever, he worked his hardest and will return to winning ways soon, no doubt.
