Photo: Ron C. Angle
The curtain came down on a solid clay-court season for Marcos on Friday as he was beaten by World No. 4 Andy Murray 6-2, 6-3, 0-6, 6-2 in the third round of Roland Garros.
In reaching the third round in Paris, Marcos posted his best result since 2007. During the European clay-court season, Marcos also reached the semi-finals in Munich and the quarter-finals in Nice.
Marcos made a strong start to his third meeting with Murray, and had a break point chance in the Scot’s opening service game, but he could not maintain his dominance and it was Murray who made the first breakthrough. The Dunblane native took advantage of a spate of unforced errors from Marcos to lead 3-2. He then broke serve again in the seventh game, as Marcos struggled to regain his form, and served out a one-set lead.
Murray quickly went a break up in the second set and although Marcos was able to level immediately, he could not maintain his momentum and Murray again broke serve in the fifth game with a forehand winner to lead 3-2. Marcos was then to surrender the second set with a second break of serve as he double faulted in the ninth game.
It was a much improved performance from Marcos in the third set as he reined in his errors and dictated play with fine ball striking and aggressive tactics. As Murray’s concentration wavered just slightly, Marcos was primed to strike and in a devastating seven games, he raced to a 6-0 set and went up a break at 1-0 in the fourth set.
The run could not last, though. Murray stemmed the flow by breaking back to level at 1-1 in the fourth set before a spectacular half-volley pass set up a break point in the sixth game. The Scot duly converted as he forced Marcos into a volley error at the net. Murray, a quarter-finalist in Paris last year, then went on to win the final two games to wrap up victory.
The grass-court season is up next for Marcos, beginning with an appearance at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, beginning on 7 June.
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Well done, Marcos!
