Marcos had 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov on the ropes in the Australian Open third round on Friday, but couldn’t quite pull off the upset as the Bulgarian rallied to claim a 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory in Melbourne.
Marcos fired 15 aces, but only converted two of his 10 break points as Dimitrov found his top form in the final two sets to prevail in three hours and 28 minutes on Show Court 3.
“I think I had a great chance to win here today, but Grigor also stepped it up,” said Marcos. “In the fourth and fifth sets he served very, very well. Big percentage, big first serves at important points.
“I think with the forehand he’s very aggressive and doesn’t give many points away and I think he’s improved his backhand a lot. He’s more powerful and more stable on the backhand.”
The third-round exit brought to an end a strong start to the season Down Under for Marcos, who went into the Australian Open after reaching the final of the Happy Valley Challenger (l. to Harrison).
He will next return to court in Europe at the PBZ Zagreb Indoors on 2nd February, followed by the ABM AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam on 9th February.
