Italian Open: Alcaraz beaten by world No 135 Fabian Marozsan
There have been greater shocks by ranking in the past but the manner of this victory made it particularly astonishing
The possibility of a first meeting between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic in 12 months was dashed at the Italian Open on Monday when the former was stunned in straight sets by an unheralded Hungarian qualifier ranked No 135 in the world.
Fabian Marozsan, 23, had never beaten a top-100 player before arriving in Rome last week, but delivered a rousing performance to defeat Alcaraz, the world No 2 from Spain, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), in the third round. It was described by the respected Amazon Prime commentator Mark Petchey as “one of the biggest upsets we’ve seen in ATP Tour history”.
There have been greater shocks by ranking in the past but the manner of this victory made it particularly astonishing.
After being confined to the lower tiers in recent years, Marozsan has suddenly come to life in his first event on the main tour, although it did not look so promising initially when he was only two points from defeat in the first round of qualifying.
Marozsan did not shirk the task against Alcaraz in front of 10,000 spectators on Rome’s Centre Court, using his clean ball-striking to great effect with 24 winners to Alcaraz’s 12.
There was a little wobble after going a set and a break up at 4-3, but he impressively held his nerve by coming back from 4-1 down in the second-set tie-break with six consecutive points for the greatest triumph of his career.
“I’m very happy,” Marozsan said. “It was my dream last night. I just tried to do something special, win a few games, maybe a set or something. Everything was perfect today — the crowd, the weather, the court. I don’t know what happened in the points. I just tried to hit back every ball and it just happened.”
Alcaraz admitted that he did not expect Marozsan to play so well. “Of course, he surprised me a lot,” the Spaniard said. “I mean, his level was really, really high. I’m sure he’s going to break the top 100 very, very soon.”
Marozsan is now projected to rise 21 spots to No 114 and will gain entry to the top 100 if he defeats Croatia’s Borna Coric in the last 16. However, he will have to come through qualifying to compete in the French Open this month as this rise in the rankings comes too late for direct entry to the main draw.
