Marcos' inspiring week at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships will culminate in his first final at the prestigious ATP World Tour event, after rallying past sixth seed Feliciano Lopez 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-1 on Friday. He is guaranteed to return to the Top 40 of the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time in nearly three years.
Marcos advanced to his 13th final on the ATP World Tour and second at the 500 level, having previously appeared in the title match in Washington in 2010. He is set to clash against World No. 4 Stan Wawrinka after firing eight aces and converting on five of nine break chances to prevail after two hours and two minutes.
"It's been a long road for me the last three, four years," Marcos said in his post-match press conference. "It's all about fighting, getting back to where I want to be. Last year we set some goals to be Top 50. I achieved that. Now, I'm moving forward. I think I have still a lot to improve on, but the most important thing is health-wise I'm very, very good. I don't have any injuries and health problems that I had. I'm happy I'm back on the court and winning. It's a nice feeling. I'm going to work even harder so it continues."
Marcos dropped just two points in his first three services games, but struggled down the stretch in the opening set. He was broken for 5-3 as Lopez closed it out a game later. The second set was a different story, with Marcos racing to a 3-0 lead and holding off a strong rally from his Spanish opponent, who then reeled off four straight games for 4-3. Lopez would struggle with his forehand as Marcos broke back immediately.
The set would be decided in a tiebreak, where four forehand errors gave Marcos a decisive 4-0 advantage. He would not look back from there, taking the tiebreak 7-1 and riding the momentum in the third set with three breaks of serve. Lopez would finish with 50 unforced errors as Marcos closed out his fourth victory in five head-to-head encounters. Following the match, he gave the fans 'air hugs' and then fell to his knees to kiss the court.
"The conditions here are very fast and without serving well it's tough to compete against a guy like Feli when he puts so much pressure on his serve," Marcos added. "He's serving unbelievable. He was the better player today I think the first two sets. He couldn't hold his nerves. At the end of the second he was a break up at 4-3 and serving with new balls he couldn't hold his nerves.
"The crowd helped me amazingly there and I found a way to fight in the second and win it. I think I played an unbelievable tiebreak, very solid, returned very well, served very well. Then I started to get momentum in the third. And once I got the break and then held after the 2-1, Love-40 on my serve, then everything went pretty smooth."
Marcos will appear in an ATP World Tour final for the second straight year, following a run to the championship match in Atlanta last July. He is set to meet Wawrinka for the sixth time, seeking his first victory. They last faced off on the grass of Queen's Club in London in 2014.
"He's an unbelievable player," Marcos said of Wawrinka. "The last two years he's very consistent. He's having his best years of his life. Winning two Grand Slams, that's amazing. I think he's a guy who deserves it. But I cannot tell you much more. I'm going to sit down with my coach tomorrow morning or maybe tonight and talk about it a bit."
