Exhibition and crash by
Fabian Marozsan
in the second round of the
Miami Masters 1000
.
The Hungarian, 57th in the ranking, passed
Holger Rune
, sixth seed, whom he beat by a resounding 6-1 and 6-1 in just 59 minutes of play, and increased his positive record against players located in the top 10 The one he achieved against the Dane on the center court of the
Hard Rock Stadium
was his third victory in four games played against rivals located in that group, all in the last ten months.
Ten months in which he completely changed his career.
"It's a great feeling to play at the highest level. I always try to play my best tennis, but especially when I face a top 10 player and I'm enjoying my time here," said Marozsan, who will now face Australian
Alexei Popyrin
, 45 ° of the classification and will seek to extend its great moment in the American competition.
The 24-year-old Hungarian has been growing by leaps and bounds since last May, in his absolute debut in a Masters 1000, he gave his first great impact.
It was in
Rome
, a competition in which he arrived as 135th in the ranking, without having ever played in a main draw in an
ATP
circuit tournament and without ever having beaten a player from the first hundred.
But in the Foro Italico he revealed himself.
He surpassed the classification, went down in the first rounds of the main draw to Corentin Moutet (67th) and Jiri Lehecka (39th) and in his third match he surprised the Spanish
Carlos Alcaraz
, world number two.
He fell in the round of 16 against Borna Coric (16th), but that unexpected celebration against the Murcian marked a break for him.
"It all started last year in Rome. Everyone talks about that victory against Alcaraz. Although I went out on the court hoping to win a couple of games against him," he recalled a few weeks ago, in an interview with the ATP.
After his time in the Italian capital, Marozsan did not stop growing.
At the end of June it entered the top 100 for the first time and in January it reached 57th place, its best position.
He played the last three Grand Slams: Wimbledon and the US Open 2023 (the British entered from qualifying and lost in the debut and in the American he entered directly to the main draw and won a match) and Australia 2024. And he also played two other Masters 1000 :
Shanghai
and
Indian Wells
.
In October, in the Chinese competition, he once again defeated a top 10 player. In the round of 16 he defeated the Norwegian
Casper Ruud
7-6 (7-3), 3-6 and 6-4 , then ninth in the ranking.
And at the beginning of this month, in the Californian desert, he suffered the "revenge" of Alcaraz, who beat him by a double 6-3.
Fab on 🔥
Fabian Marozsan improves to 3-1 against the Top-10 with a pitch-perfect performance against No.7-ranked Rune #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/ZIi7CdApJi
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 24, 2024
And this Sunday in Miami, only his fourth participation in a competition of this category, he once again defeated an opponent who is a member of that elite, to improve his record and demonstrate that those who nickname him
"The Giant Killer
" are not entirely wrong.
Rune, a 20-year-old former world number four, later issued a statement explaining his poor performance in what was the quickest defeat of his top-10 career.
"I was sick the night before the game and considered withdrawing from the tournament, but since I felt better after the warm-up, I decided to try it. Unfortunately, I had no energy," he explained in a message that was broadcast by some media in his country.
Rune is playing very irregular tennis.
AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
Beyond this mitigating factor, the Dane, considered one of the most talented young people on the circuit, remains unexploited at the level of his generation colleagues such as Alcaraz himself or the Italian Jannik Sinner.
In recent months - in which he underwent several coaching changes, until partnering for the second time with Patrick Mouratoglou - he played very irregular tennis.
And now he suffered a tough setback against an inspired Marozsan, who broke him five times and hit 23 winners and just four unforced errors.
Right-handed and with a two-handed backhand like most of his generation, the Hungarian executioner from Rune started playing tennis at the age of five.
His father was his first teacher and who taught him all the secrets of the sport from a very young age.
He considers himself a man of slow courts.
His idol is
Rafael Nadal
and his favorite shot is the
drop
.
It was difficult for him to insert himself into the circuit.
Between 2017 and 2021 he played all the
Futures
and ITF
tournaments
he could.
He did more good than bad: his record was 101 wins and 63 losses with five titles.
Only in 2022 did he enter the
Challengers
circuit , the gateway to the major circus, in which he has won three titles, Banja Luka 2022 and Antalya and Perugia last year.
At 23 years old, his pending account was the ATP tournaments, in which he debuted in May 2022. It seemed that the smiles would never come at that level, but after the revelation in Rome, he took off the mufa.
And this Sunday, on the cement of Miami, he gave another great blow against a top player.