Marcos is one win from reaching an ATP World Tour final for the third time in the past year, defeating Dudi Sela 6-2, 7-5 on Thursday at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
Making his debut appearance in Newport, Marcos advances to the semi-finals where he will face either second seed Ivo Karlovic or Switzerland's Marco Chiudinelli.
“I was very tight the whole match and thought Dudi was as well," Marcos said. "We’ve known each other for a long time and traveled together from a very young age. We know each other’s families very well. It’s tough playing against him because of that. You don’t want to show too many emotions because it’s one of your best friends on tour. I think maybe I returned better than him and it paid off in the end.”
Marcos improved to 2-0 in his head-to-head against Sela, prevailing in one hour and 20 minutes. He sprinted to a fast start on Thursday, breaking the Israeli in each of his first three service games. He would capture the opening set 6-2 and recovered from an 0-3 deficit in the second, claiming seven of the last nine games to emerge with the win.
Marcos is 2-1 in ATP World Tour semi-finals in the past year, reaching the final in Atlanta and Dubai. He leads the head-to-head against both Karlovic (3-1) and Chiudinelli (3-0).
