Photo: Yohan Brandt/Open 13
Marcos and his French doubles partner, Thierry Ascione, suffered a close defeat in the first round of the Open 13, falling to top seeds Julian Knowle and Robert Lindstedt 6-4, 7-6(3) on Tuesday in Marseille.
Marcos and Thierry rallied from an early break deficit in the first set to lead 4-3. However, their Austrian-Swedish opponents swiftly recovered their advantage to break serve again and claim a one-set lead.
Playing together on the ATP World Tour for the first time, Marcos and Thierry opened up an encouraging 3-1 lead in the second set. However, they could not maintain their advantage and, after levelling at 3-3, Knowle and Lindstedt went on to secure victory in a deciding tie-break 7-3 after 83 minutes.
Marcos will return to singles action on Wednesday when he faces Frenchman Michael Llodra in the second round. It will be the first meeting between the two.
Llodra secured his place in the second round on Tuesday with a hard-fought victory over countryman Edouard Roger-Vasselin. The World No. 79 reached the final in Marseille last year, finishing runner-up to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
The match will take place fourth on centre court on Wednesday, with the match prior to Marcos’ – Benneteau vs Serra – beginning not before 2:00 pm local time (+1hr GMT). Check out the full order of play here.
There is live television coverage of the Open 13 if you live in France, for the full television schedule click here.
You can also follow point-by-point live scores of the match on the live scoreboard.
Stay tuned to www.baghdatis.com for all the latest news on Marcos’ progress in Marseille.
Go, Marcos!
