In a gigantic upset in the third round of the 2023 Italian Open on Monday, Fabian Marozsan of Hungary, who is ranked 135th in the world, defeated Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, the second ranked player of the world, 6-3, 7-6. The loss by Alcaraz was stunning when you consider the fact he has already won the Barcelona Open and Madrid Open on clay so far in 2023.
From a statistical standpoint, winners were a major reason why Marozsan was the victor. He had 30 winners compared to only 15 for Alcaraz.
Prior to beating Alacaraz in Rome, Marozsan qualified for the Italian Open by beating Timofey Skatov of Kazakhstan 6-0, 2-6, 7-5 and then Felipe Alves of Brazil 7-5, 6-1. Marozsan then beat Corentin Moutet of France 6-0, 6-7, 6-2 in the first round, and then the 32nd seed Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 in the second round.
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The 2023 Italian Open was the first ATP event that Marozsan had qualified for this year. He did however represent Hungary in Davis Cup qualifying in February, where he lost 6-3, 6-3 to Ugo Humbert of France. Marozsan also won a challenger event in Antalya, Turkey in March. In the final, Marozsan beat Sebastian Ofner of Austria, 7-5, 6-0. It should be noted that the Antalya Challenger was on clay.
Maroszan’s next opponent will be Borna Coric of Croatia in the fourth round on Tuesday. Coric, who is the 15th seed in Rome, has won one ATP event on clay in the past. That came at the 2017 Grand Prix Hassan II event in Morocco, where he beat Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in the final, 5-7, 7-6, 7-5.
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