Fabian Marozsan produced one of the biggest upsets in recent memory on Monday at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, where he downed World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz 6-3, 7-6(4) to reach the fourth round in Rome.
The No. 135-ranked Hungarian qualifier is playing in his first ATP Tour main draw but showed no signs of nerves as he outplayed Alcaraz with a quality display of clean hitting at the clay-court ATP Masters 1000.
“It’s not easy to say something, I’m very, very happy,” said Marozsan. “I couldn’t imagine this. it was my dream last night. Now it’s true, I am very, very happy about this… I just tried to do something special, maybe winning a few games or a set or something like this, and now I just beat the [World No. 2].”
Alcaraz entered the match with a 30-2 record for the 2023 season but was frequently undone by the depth of Marozsan’s groundstrokes, which gave the Spaniard few chances to take control of rallies. The Hungarian’s drop shot also matched the quality of his opponent’s throughout, and he clinched the biggest win of his career in one hour, 40 minutes to send shockwaves around the Foro Italico.
“Everything was perfect today,” said Marozsan. “The crowd, the weather, the court. I’m just happy I’m doing my job.
“I think in the tie-break it was 1/4 and I won six points in a row. It’s amazing, I don’t know what happened during the points, I just tried to hit back every ball and tried to do my best. I tried to find out how to win points against him in that tough situation, and it just happened. I don’t know what to say.”
The 23-year-old Marozsan’s reward for his stunning display is a fourth-round match against Borna Coric. The 15th-seeded Croatian earlier overcame Roberto Carballes Baena 7-6(3), 6-1.
More to follow…