One month ago, they were competing together in the US Open doubles competition. On Thursday, they faced off in the second round of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships.
Gilles Muller defeated Marcos 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 11 minutes in Tokyo, dropping serve once in both sets. It was Muller’s first victory over Marcos in four head-to-head meetings.
Marcos, who was making his sixth appearance at the ATP World Tour 500 event, had earned a three-set victory over Marcel Granollers to open his campaign on Tuesday. Having withdrawn from the Shanghai Rolex Masters, he will return to Europe to next play at the If Stockholm Open.