Marcos pushed World No. 32 Benoit Paire to the brink on Thursday at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, but fell 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.
Paire opened their Tokyo second round encounter with an immediate break and would claim the first set 6-3. But Marcos fought back, reeling off six straight games from an 0-2 deficit in the second set to draw level and force a decider. He would fight back once again in the third after relinquishing an early break, but was broken again in the 11th game to concede the match after one hour and 47 minutes.
It was their first meeting since 2013, when Marcos prevailed on the hard courts of Rotterdam and Paire notched a win on the clay of Roland Garros. Marcos, who is now 7-5 in Tokyo, looks to cap his 2015 season with a strong October finish. He next moves to the Shanghai Rolex Masters where he is making his third appearance. Marcos toppled Milos Raonic in a deciding tie-break en route to the Round of 16 in 2012.
