For the first 20 minutes of Wednesday’s second round match at the Open Harmonie Mutuelle, it looked like Marcos was on his way out of the tournament. He had lost the first set 6-1 against Uladzimir Ignatik of Belarus.
But Marcos would not go down without a fight. He stormed back for a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory in front of a packed crowd in St. Brieuc, France. Competing in his first ATP Challenger Tour event of the year, he advanced to the quarterfinals after one hour and 43 minutes.
The win comes one day after Marcos defeated Andrea Arnaboldi 6-4, 6-3 to open his campaign in the French city. He fired eight aces and saved the lone break point faced to rout his Italian opponent.
Marcos wasted no time in securing his place in the semifinals of the Open Harmonie Mutuelle on Friday. He breezed past Germany’s Matthias Bachinger 6-3, 6-2 in just 65 minutes to reach the last four at the ATP Challenger Tour event in St. Brieuc, France.
Marcos fired four aces, while facing only one break point the entire match. He converted on five of 10 break chances of his own, including one to claim the opening set and another to seal the match after just over an hour.
It was the fifth head-to-head encounter between Marcos and the German veteran. He extended his dominant lead to 5-0, having previously won on the clay of Munich and hard courts of Metz, Rotterdam and the US Open.
In the semi final Marcos Baghdatis lost to Frenchman Lestienne 7-5 6-1.