Photo: Ron C. Angle
Marcos’ impressive run at the Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur 2011 came to an end in the final on Sunday when he was defeated by third seed Janko Tipsarevic, 6-4, 7-5.
Marcos made a strong start to the match as he broke for a 3-0 lead. However, Tipsarevic hit back in the fifth game and then broke Marcos again in the seventh game as he clinched the first set.
Marcos called on all his fighting qualities to battle back from a 1-4 double break deficit in the second set, and leveled at 5-5 after Tipsarevic failed to serve out the match in the 10th game. However, he could not maintain the momentum and surrendered his serve again in the following game. At the second time of asking Tipsarevic finished the job, clinching victory on his third match point after two hours and six minutes.
"I played pretty well today," assessed Marcos. "Janko was better than me today on the important points of the match. I am a bit disappointed, but glad to feel good on court again and playing the tennis I am playing at the moment. I will keep it up."
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It brought to a close a strong week for Marcos, who had ousted fourth seed Jurgen Melzer and second seed Viktor Troicki both in straight sets to reach his first ATP World Tour final of the season.
He will now look to carry his good form into next week’s Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo, where he faces World No. 4 and this week’s Bangkok champion Andy Murray in the first round.
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Go, Marcos!
