Photo: Hiromasa Mano
In the most eagerly anticipated of the four quarter-finals at the Medibank International, Marcos will take on fourth seed and home favourite Lleyton Hewitt Thursday afternoon in Sydney.
Hewitt was in ruthless mood in his opening match against Andreas Seppi Wednesday, dismissing the Italian for the loss of just two games to set up his third meeting with Marcos.
The Adelaide native opened his season last week at the Hopman Cup and is looking to hone his preparations for his home Grand Slam this week by aiming for a fifth title in Sydney; he previously triumphed in 2000-01 and 2004-05. Both he and Marcos are former finalists at the Australian Open, with Hewitt finishing runner-up one year earlier in 2005.
Marcos has played Hewitt twice before, in two memorable encounters. The first came in the 2006 Wimbledon quarter-finals, when Marcos prevailed in four sets to reach the semi-finals at the All England Club for the first time. Hewitt got his revenge at the Australian Open two years ago, though, winning an epic late-night thriller that finished at 4:34 a.m. To watch Marcos talk about that historic encounter, check out the video on the homepage.
Marcos vs. Hewitt: Head-to-Head
“It's another level obviously,” said Marcos, looking ahead to the match. “[I] played Berdych last week, and he played a great match. I think he (Hewitt) is the favourite. He's playing good and he's playing at home. So I'll just go out there and try to find a solution to win. That's my main goal.”
The 28-year-old Hewitt showed equal respect for Marcos, saying: “He's had a couple of injuries and he's bounced back well from those. He dropped down and played quite a few Challengers throughout last year to get his ranking back where he is at the moment. He's always a class player. Great ball striker and moves well from the back of the court.”
For the third match in a row, Marcos finds himself on Ken Rosewall Arena, with the match due to start not before 3:00 p.m. (4:00 a.m. GMT, 6:00 a.m. Cyprus). Check out the full order of play here.
There will be live radio commentary of the match on AO Series Radio and you can follow point-by-point live scores here.
If you live in Australia, there is live television coverage available on Seven Network. Check out the full TV schedule here.
Stay tuned to www.baghdatis.com for all the latest news and photos from Sydney. Go, Marcos!
Go, Marcos!
