Photo: Thomas Guenther
Marcos’s marvellous run in Cincinnati will continue into the semi-finals after he overcame a 0-6 record against ATP World Tour No. 1 Rafael Nadal to prevail 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a thrilling match on Friday night at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati.
In the semi-finals he will look to become the sixth different player to defeat Nadal and Roger Federer in the same tournament and reach his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final. He will face the Swiss third seed for the first time since their epic meeting in Indian Wells in March, when Marcos snapped a six-match losing streak against the 16-time Grand Slam champion. Earlier on Friday, Federer defeated Nikolay Davydenko in two tight sets to earn his place in the semi-finals.
It is only the second time in his career that Marcos has reached a Masters 1000 semi-final, and he has done so in style, having also ousted Marin Cilic, Thomaz Bellucci and Tomas Berdych earlier in the tournament.
“For sure I’m playing some of the best tennis of my career; I’m feeling fit and great on court,” said Marcos, who also reached the Washington final two weeks ago. “I’m happy to be back and playing this kind of tennis, it’s a pleasure. It’s a great victory for me today.”
With evening drawing in on Stadium, Marcos overcame a slow start to the match with Nadal, saving five break points in his opening service game as he worked hard to stay with the Spaniard early on. After his tough initiation into the match, Marcos settled into a good rhythm on serve and from the back of the court. He was denied on a break point opportunity in the fifth game, but kept the pressure on Nadal by cruising through his own service games. By the time they were level at 4-4, Marcos had won 94 per cent of the points behind his first serve.
The pressure told on his top seeded opponent in the 10th game as groundstroke errors gave Marcos the chance to break, and he converted as Nadal miscued another backhand to trail 4-5. Marcos suffered a shaky start as he attempted to close out the set, opening with a double fault, but responded wonderfully and closed out a one-set lead with three successive service winners.
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Marcos looked to capitalise on his momentum in Nadal’s first service game of the second set and good ball-striking from the Cypriot earned him a break point opportunity. Strong play from Nadal denied him at first, but when presented with a second opportunity, he goaded Nadal into yet another uncharacteristic forehand error to break serve.
However, Marcos was unable to maintain his lead as Nadal hit back immediately, taking advantage of some more second serves from Marcos and finding his range on the forehand to level at 1-1. While the Spaniard still struggled to find his best tennis, he showcased his famed gladiatorial qualities throughout the set, saving break points in the third and seventh games before making his move in the 10th game. Reining in his errors, Nadal started to garner some momentum and went on the attack, forcing telling errors from Marcos to engineer a service break and force a deciding set.
With Nadal starting to hit ominously good form in the third set, and dictating play with his forehand, Marcos did well to hang tough and stay level with the Spaniard. He continued to serve well and worked hard to keep the Spaniard at bay, never more importantly than in the eighth game when he came back from a 0/30 deficit to level at 4-4.
In the following game, great hustling and chasing from Marcos earned him a break point after he chased down a Nadal drop shot to hit a backhand winner. He was then gifted his break of serve as Nadal committed just his third double fault of the match. Serving for the match, Marcos looked the epitome of composure as he struck three thunderous first serves to go up 40/0. Nadal denied him on the first two match point opportunities as the fireworks at nearby Kings Island began to explode prematurely, but the Mallorcan netted after a lengthy rally on the third match point to award Marcos victory after two hours and 32 minutes.
“I was serving very well and got a lot of free points on my serve, that was key,” assessed Marcos immediately after the match. “I wasn’t giving Rafa any rhythm and it paid off, these two things were the key to the match. Basically I took my chances, and other times I played him I had chances and I didn't take them. Maybe I'm more mature now, and I took the chances that I had to take and won the match.”
Marcos will return to Stadium for his match with Federer not before 7:00pm on Saturday evening. Check out the full order of play here.
“I'm going to concentrate on my game,” said Marcos, looking ahead to the match. “I'm not going to start thinking if I beat him or if he's beatable or not. I think I'll just go out there and try to find the solution to win like I did last time, just to play very aggressive, serve very well like today, and basically play my game.”
Watch the match live online at TennisTV (Territory restrictions apply)
Stay tuned to www.baghdatis.com for all the latest news and photos from Cincinnati.
Go, Marcos!
