Photo: Ron C. Angle
In a bid to earn a place in the semi-finals of the Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur 2010, Marcos will face fourth-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny on Friday at the ATP World Tour 250 indoor hard-court tournament.
World No. 9 Youzhny opened his campaign with a bye through the first round before battling past upcoming Ukrainian player, Alexandr Dolgopolov on Wednesday. The 28 year old, who accompanied Marcos to the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park on Monday (see video), is coming off a semi-final showing at the US Open, where he lost out to Rafael Nadal.
It has been a very strong season for Youzhny, who also won his sixth ATP World Tour title in Munich, reached two finals in Dubai and Rotterdam, and advanced to the Roland Garros quarter-finals. He now finds himself 10th in the year-to-date South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings, with the Top 8 to qualify for the year-end Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London in November.
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Marcos has played Youzhny five times previously, with the Russian leading their head-to-head standings 3-2. He won their most recent meeting, which in fact came in the second round in Kuala Lumpur last year. Check out their full head-to-head details here.
“It will be very tough [against Youzhny]," said Marcos. "We played each other five times, he leads 3-2. It will be tough, but if I play good then I think I have a chance to win.”
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The match will take place not before 2:30pm local time on Friday, 7:30am in the UK, 9:30am in Cyprus. Check out the full order of play here.
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Go, Marcos!
