Photo: Ron C. Angle
Marcos was made to work hard in his first match of the 2011 ATP World Tour season, battling past Frenchman Florent Serra 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 on Tuesday to reach the second round of the Brisbane International.
After going down an early break in the first set, Marcos immediately fought back, but was broken again in the sixth game by Serra, who then went on to close out a one set lead. In a close second set Marcos was strong on serve, firing eight aces and not facing a break point. He then took his chance on Serra’s serve in the 12th game, breaking the Frenchman to 30 to level the match.
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“It was tough because I only arrived two days ago, I’m still a bit jet lagged, and it was tough for me to adapt the court and the balls and the atmosphere,” admitted Marcos. “But I thought in the second set I played a bit more aggressively, I was serving pretty good and I took my chances when I had them, so I’m very happy about that.
“In the third set I tried to keep calm because I knew I was getting tired. I broke at 3-2, but then through two double faults in the first two points at 4-2 I gave him a bit of confidence to break me back. But I fought till the end and I’m happy I won.”
Next up for Marcos at the ATP World Tour 250 hard court tournament will be World No. 70 Lukasz Kubot, who cruised through his opener against Daniel Brands, 6-2, 6-2. It will be the first time that Marcos has played against the Pole in a tour-level event.
Asked what he would like to improve in his match against Kubot, Marcos said, “I’m pretty happy with the way I’m playing, especially in the second and third sets [today]. With these conditions and the balls are very heavy I think I need to play a bit more aggressively. But that’s the only thing I need to work on to play better here. My serve was pretty good, but on the return I can be more aggressive.”
The second-round match is scheduled for Wednesday evening on Pat Rafter Arena, beginning not before 7pm local time (9am GMT, 11am Cyprus, 4am ET). Check out the full order of play here.
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Go, Marcos!
