Photo: Ron C. Angle
Marcos is through to his second ATP World Tour semi-final of the season after beating fourth seed Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 7-6(3) on Friday at the Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur 2011.
After saving two break points in his opening service game, Marcos broke Melzer’s serve in the sixth game to clinch the first set. He was under pressure on serve twice in the second set, saving break point in the sixth game and a set point – with an ace – in the 10th game, to force the set into a tie-break.
Marcos got the early lead in the tie-break and was always in control. He quickly established a 6-3 lead and converted his first match point after 88 minutes of play as Melzer fired a forehand wide.
"I served very well today and was aggressive on the important points of the match," said Marcos. "My game is improving after every match and that's very positive.”
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For a place in his 11th tour-level final, Marcos will face second-seeded Serbian Viktor Troicki, who earlier defeated Dmitry Tursunov in straight sets. Marcos and Troicki have split their two previous meetings, with Marcos winning when they met in Sydney at the start of 2010, before Troicki avenged that defeat in the Moscow final later in the year.
“Viktor is playing great, but I'll focus on what I have to do and go out there and find the solution to win,” said Marcos.
The match will be played first on Centre Court on Saturday, beginning at 2:15pm local time (+8 hours GMT).
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