Marcos will hope to reach the main draw at the first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of the year this week, competing in qualifying at the BNP Paribas Open. He opened against Australian Greek Thanasi Kokkinakis on Tuesday beating him 6-1 6-3 it was the first time they ever met.
Making his ninth appearance in Indian Wells, Marcos is seeded fifth in the qualifying competition, where he needs to win two matches to advance to the main draw. Vincent Millot awaited him on Wednesday which he won
Indian Wells holds fond memories for Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis as the site of his lone victory over Roger Federer. Now sitting two spots out of the Top 100, the 32-year-old is finding form again at the BNP Paribas Open, into the main draw for the first time in three years.
The former No. 8 in the ATP Rankings posted a convincing 6-1, 6-2 triumph over Frenchman Vincent Millot to book a first-round clash with Yoshihito Nishioka.
It was eight years ago he brought down top seed Federer en route to the fourth round. His best result remains a quarter-final run on debut in 2006 before Rafael Nadal ended his run.