Heading into Wimbledon in 2021, one of my darkhorses for a strong run into the second week was Marton Fucsovics of Hungary. The 44th-ranked player in the world, who was ranked as high as 31st in 2019, had the game to raise some eyebrows.
In the first round, Fucsovics showed off his experience, in beating the 19th-ranked Italian Jannik Sinner 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3. Despite being seeded third at the Queen’s Club Championship leading up to Wimbledon, Sinner lost in straight sets to young British phenom Jack Draper, 7-6, 7-6. In Australia back in February, Sinner lost in five sets to Canadian Denis Shapovalov, and he did not reach the second round of the 2020 United States Open either as he lost to Karen Khachanov of Russia.
The bottom line is that Sinner seems comfortable in best-of-three, but not yet in a best-of-five, and picking Fucsovics seemed right. Fucsovics then got by Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic 6-3, 5-4 in a walkover in the second round, and will now play the ninth seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina in round three on Friday.
In their only prior matchup, Schwartzman beat Fucsovics in five sets on clay in the first round of the 2019 French Open. But do not forget, clay is Schwartzman’s best surface, and the fact that Fucsovics actually won two sets was impressive. Fucsovics has done relatively well in majors, and has reached at least the third round in all four.
Now with Fucsovics and Schwartzman playing on grass, you can throw Schwartzman’s eighth-ranked seeding out the window. Fucsovics has the size advantage (6’2″, 180 pounds), compared to Schwartzman (5’7″, 150 pounds). Schwartzman may be the favourite on slow clay courts, but not on grass courts. It is a feeling, but Fucsovics can pull off the Friday upset here. If Aslan Karatsev can beat Schwartzman at a major, so can Fucsovics.
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