Marcos was beaten in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Tuesday, falling in a very tight clash with fourth seed Juan Martin del Potro, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(4).

Marcos held three match points on del Potro’s serve at 4-5 in the third set, but could not convert owing to brave, aggressive tactics from the Argentine. Marcos had led 3-1 in the third set, before del Potro fought back in the seventh game.

“I just lost the match that I think I had lots of chances of winning,” Marcos told www.baghdatis.com. “Ii played good in today’s match. I’m not saying I played my best tennis, but I think I played well enough to win the match. It’s tough to lose the match like this. It’s hard luck; if I could have had more luck, I’d be sitting here the winner.”

Reflecting on the three match points, which del Potro saved with a combination accurate serves and potent forehands, Marcos said, “The only chance I really had was on the second serve at 15/40, but it was a good second serve into my body. I tried to play a forehand, but the ball caught me… There’s nothing I could have done better. I gave it my best shot.

“[The Top 10 are] very strong mentally,” explained Marcos. “I remember on one match point, he was hitting his forehands and he hit a winner, I tried to fight. I think you need to take a risk. I tried to do it on that second serve, but it was a good serve and I wasn’t aggressive enough. I can’t say I did anything wrong.

“When I was a break up, I made a couple of mistakes on my service game at 4-2, that’s all I can say. But in a two-and-a-half-hour match, you cannot say I was making big mistakes. Maybe I could have handled the pressure a bit better and not given away too many easy points.”

Despite the disappointing defeat, Marcos is taking the positives from the way he has started the season and hopes his luck will turn at the upcoming ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments in the U.S.A.

“Every match I play, I’m very close to winning, except against David Ferrer (at the Australian Open). That’s very positive. I’ll keep pushing. I’ll keep working hard and I hope it will turn around. I hope I will win some matches that I deserve. I’m not saying he didn’t deserve to win, but I had more chances than him and he stole it.”