Marcos was unfortunate to lose against World No. 48 Grigor Dimitrov in three closely contested sets at the Brisbane International, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(5). The mercurial Bulgarian served strongly throughout the semi-final, hit 12 aces and had just enough to get over the line against Marcos.
After impressive wins against Mayer and Simon, Marcos had every reason to be brimming with confidence going into the semi-final. However, Dimitrov has been in similarly good form, dispatching Raonic and Melzer to reach this stage. The game was tight with lots of high quality shots from both players.
Having battled to level the match, Marcos was unable to overwhelm Dimitrov with his momentum in the final set. As it turned out, Dimitrov edged ahead in the tie-break, and although Marcos managed to recover one mini-break, he was unable to stop his opponent closing out the match.
Marcos will be encouraged to have started the season playing in such an assured and confident manner and will hope to translate this form into the upcoming Australian Open.
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