By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday October 10, 2023
Fabian Marozsan continues to rise up the rankings - and notch wins against the ATP's elite.
Photo Source: Internazionali BNL d'Italia
By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday October 9, 2023
Hungary's Fabian Marozsan has burst onto the scene in 2023. Remember the guy who defeated Carlos Alcaraz at Rome in his ATP debut? Well, he's still making waves five months later, as he plowed into the quarterfinals at Shanghai to become the first player from Hungary to ever reach the last eigth at a Masters 1000.
Here's a bit more on the rising 24-year-old:
He is the first Hungarian to reach a Masters quarterfinal
Marozsan, 24, is the No.2-ranked Hungarian behind Marton Fucsovics at the moment. But he is the first man from his country to reach the last eight of a Masters 1000.
He has dropped just a single set in Shanghai
Ranked 91, Marozsan is into his maiden Masters 1000 quarterfinal at Shanghai, and he hasn’t dropped a single set. He has defeated Arthur Rinderknech (7-6(5), 6-2), 11th-seeded Alex de Minaur (6-3, 7-5), Dusan Lajovic (6-3, 6-3) and 8th-seeded Casper Ruud, (7-6(3), 3-6, 6-4).
He had one ATP hard court win prior to this week
The majority of Marozsan’s ATP wins (and challenger) have come on clay courts. He entered this week with a 1-3 record on hard courts at ATP level, compared to 5-2 on clay and 0-1 on grass (6-6 overall).
This week in Shanghai, he has increased his overall ATP win total to 10.
Across all levels in 2023, Marozsan is 31-13 on clay, and 9-9 on hard courts.
All 10 of Marozsan’s ATP wins have come in 2023.
His idol is Rafael Nadal
According to Marozsan, the King of Clay is his ultimate fave. He confirmed that to reporters on Tuesday in Shanghai, saying: “My hero is Nadal, Rafa Nadal.”
He’s 2-0 against the Top 10
Marozsan has defeated 11th-ranked Alex de Minaur and 9th-ranked Casper Ruud in Shanghai this week.
And he beat Carlos Alcaraz (who was then ranked No.2) on his ATP debut in Rome, where he became one of two players to defeat the Spaniard in straight sets in 2023.
“I had great results this year,” he said. “I beat few top-seeded players here in Shanghai, in Rome also. This is just only my second Masters tournament, so it's kind of a new tournament series for me. I'm just very happy to be playing here and try to do my best every time.”
Alcaraz on Marozsan
The aforementioned upset of Alcaraz in Rome, had the Spaniard raving about Marozsan's potential. Alcaraz said the Top-100 was a lock for the Hungarian, and he was right.
"He surprised me a lot," Alcaraz said. "I mean, his level was really, really high. I'm sure he's going to break the top 100 very, very soon. It was surprising for me."
He broke into the Top-200 in August of 2022
Marozsan reached the Top 100 in June of 2023 and earned career-high No. 82 in August 2023. He’s slated to rise to at least No.65 in next week’s rankings, and could go even higher if he continues to win in Shanghai.
He started playing tennis at age 5
The Hungarian learned the sport from his father.
“I was just five years old when I just started to play tennis,” he says. “I learned everything from my father. He played tennis before, and now he's just supporting me from home. He's watching all the matches that I'm playing. I was really young when I started to play and it was my first sport that I tried when I was young.”