Marcos notched a 7-5, 7-5 victory in his Montpellier debut on Monday, downing Lukas Lacko at the Open Sud de France.
He triumphed after one hour and 38 minutes in what was first match of the 2016 ATP World Tour season. Marcos fired nine aces and saved three of five break points faced, while converting on four on Lacko's serve.
“Today was a good match. I don’t have many matches in my legs because I only played the Australian Open this year. Here I was lucky enough to get the wild card… but I think I played pretty well. Today was a matter of trying to find a way to win, to fight and that’s what I did.”
Marcos was forced to rally from an early deficit after being broken to love in the fourth game of the first set. He would break back immediately, however, as a Lacko mid-rally backhand drifted wide.
Marcos later surrendered a break while serving for the set at 5-4, but recovered to take the opener two games later. In the second, he would drop just five points on serve, eventually breaking for 6-5 and closing it out on his second match point.
Marcos, who drew level in his head-to-head against the Slovakian at 2-2, will face Japan's Taro Daniel next. He claimed their lone previous encounter on the hard courts of the Vancouver Challenger in 2014.
