Sadly, Marcos' 2009 ATP World Tour campaign did not begin as he would have liked as he was defeated by Jarkko Nieminen 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 in the first round of the Brisbane International.
Marcos saved match points in the ninth game of the third set, but could not peg the Finn back and lost after 2hr., 3min., on Pat Rafter Arena.
Marcos served five aces in the encounter and broke serve three times, however he faced pressure from Nieminen on his own serve, which he surrendered on five occasions. Marcos was treated for a leg problem towards the end of the second set, but said that was just down to tiredness as he has not played competitively in a couple of months.
Afterwards, Marcos attributed his loss to a lack of match fitness:
"I'm not match fit and I think I need to work on that in the next 15 days before my next tournament. But... the way I'm hitting the ball is good, tactically maybe I can work on it a bit more, but that's all."
Marcos will stay in Brisbane for at least two more days to take advantage of the good practice partners that are available before travelling to Kooyong, Melbourne for the AAMI Classic - an exhibition event which is next week.
"I choose to play there (Kooyong), because I'm sure I'm going to play two matches there," said Marcos.
"Even if you lose you get to play two matches, and also play two great matches because your opponents are going to be tough and that's good, like today."
Stay tuned for more.
