The shocks kept coming at the Shanghai Masters yesterday as 91st-ranked Fabian Marozsan gave himself a belated birthday present by beating eighth-seeded Casper Ruud to reach the quarter-finals.
The unseeded Marozsan won 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-4 and is to face Poland’s 16th-seeded Hubert Hurkacz or China’s Zhang Zhizhen in the last eight.
Marozsan was joined in the quarter-finals by 26th seed Sebastian Korda, who fended off a late fightback from 20th seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina to go through 7-5, 7-6 (8/6).
Photo: AFP
Marozsan sealed the deal against the more fancied Ruud in two hours and 38 minutes with a stinging forehand down the line on his second match point.
He called his maiden Masters quarter-final the perfect present, having turned 24 on Sunday.
“This is just only my second Masters tournament, so it’s kind of a new tournament series for me,” said the Hungarian, who beat Carlos Alcaraz at the Italian Open in May.
“I’m really enjoying this, I’m very proud for this one,” added Marozsan, who is playing in Asia for the first time.
The Shanghai event, which is back on the ATP calendar for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, has witnessed several shocks.
Korda, who is to face fellow American Ben Shelton or an in-form Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals, dumped out second-seeded Daniil Medvedev on Sunday.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, the fourth seed from Greece, lost on Monday to France’s 32nd seed Ugo Humbert in a three-set battle that stretched beyond midnight.
The upsets have paved the way for top seed Alcaraz, who faces 18th seed Grigor Dimitrov in the last 16. World No. 1 Novak Djokovic is not in China.
Although Alcaraz did say he played “one of the toughest matches this year” to make the tournament’s final 16 on Monday, beating Britain’s Daniel Evans 7-6 (7/1), 6-4.
“I had to stay strong mentally, stay strong physically... I’m really happy with the level that I played,” he said.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Yang Ya-yi lost her Hong Kong Tennis Open women’s singles match to Russia’s Sofya Lansere 3-6, 6-4, 4-6.
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