Photo: Ron C. Angle
Marcos is through to the quarter-finals of the Open de Nice Cote d’Azur after cruising past German Simon Greul 6-3, 6-2 Wednesday at the ATP World Tour 250 clay-court tournament.
It is the fourth time this year that Marcos has reached the quarter-finals of an ATP World Tour event, and the second time on clay, following his semi-final run in Munich two weeks ago.
Even more impressively, although it is just the middle of May, Marcos has already surpassed his 2009 match-wins record by recording his 24th tour-level victory of the season.
Marcos made a strong start to his first career meeting with Greul, breaking serve in the second game as he raced to a 3-0 lead, which he would not relinquish as he closed out a one-set advantage.
Marcos was quick to establish a lead in the second set, breaking serve twice for a 4-0 advantage, and went on to seal victory in only 66 minutes. It was also an impressive performance on serve from Marcos, who only dropped nine points and won 17 of 19 points behind his first serve.
Next up for Marcos is Argentine Leonardo Mayer, who surprised fourth-seeded Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci 6-4, 6-1 to reach his third ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season. It will be the first time that Marcos has played the No. 59-ranked Mayer.
The match will take place first on Centre Court on Thursday, with play beginning at 11am local time. Check out the full order of play here.
Stay tuned to www.baghdatis.com all the latest from Nice.
Go, Marcos!
