Ben Shelton shocks Jannik Sinner, Fabian Marozsan beats Casper Ruud to reach Shanghai Masters quarter-finals
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Updated 10/10/2023 at 13:30 GMT
Norway's Casper Ruud is the same age as 24-year-old Hungarian Fabian Marozsan, but while Ruud has already made it clear he can compete at the top of the sport, Marozsan is breaking out in 2023 as an opponent to be reckoned with. Marozsan secured a three-set win against the former world No. 2 to reach the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters. Jannik Sinner lost to Ben Shelton later on Tuesday.
Highlights: Alcaraz battles past Evans to reach last 16 in Shanghai
Ben Shelton beat Jannik Sinner 2-6 6-3 7-6(5) to reach the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters, while Casper Ruud lost to Fabian Marozsan.
Shelton has impressed this year by making the US Open semi-finals and Australian Open quarter-finals, and he added another big win to his resume by taking out Sinner.
Sinner was looking for an eighth win in a row after beating Daniil Medvedev to lift the China Open title last week.
Sinner started brightly against his opponent, a year his junior, as he raced into a 6-2 lead in the first set.
However, Shelton is a determined figure and did not let his head drop, racing back 6-3 as he finally broke the Italian on his way to his first ATP quarter-final
The American then went toe-to-toe with Sinner in the final set as they traded blows until they reached a decisive tie-breaker.
It was Shelton, seeded No. 19 in Beijing, who edged the tie-break 7-5 to go through to the next round, where he will face fellow American Sebastian Korda.
Ruud lost 7-6(3) 3-6 6-4 to Marozsan in their last-16 tie, while Korda held off a resilient Francisco Cerundolo.
World No. 9 Ruud was the favourite going into the match against the Hungarian talent, but Marozsan has been impressing over the course of 2023 to prove that he cannot be underestimated.
The 6’3” 24-year-old won his first Challenger title in August 2022 at Banja Luka, but this year has been his breakout campaign.
At the Italian Open he defeated world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets, broke into the top 100, and defeated Alex de Minaur earlier in the tournament in China. He also picked up both the Antalya Challenger and Perugia Challenger titles earlier this year.
The next match against Hubert Hurkacz or Zhang Zhizhen will be Marozsan's first Masters 1000 quarter-final.
Ruud has slipped down to ninth in the rankings from a previous career-high of No. 2 and has not won a tournament since the Estoril Open in April earlier this year.
While Ruud sent down 14 aces, he suffered with his second serve, and in the first set was unable to break down Marozsan in the tie-break.
Ruud rallied to win the second set as he broke his opponent to set up a decisive third, but this time it was his rival who was able to break at key moments to take victory.
Speaking after the win, Marozsan said: “Thank you everybody for supporting us today. It’s not easy to finish the match. This is the highest level, where we’re playing at right now.
"Casper is a great player. He’s one of the top seeds [No. 8] here. It’s never easy to close the match. I’m just very happy to be here.
"This is one of my best results in the last few years. I’m just getting into the top 100, so I’m really happy to just be playing at this level.”
Korda reached his second Masters quarter-final, and his first since the Miami Masters in 2021, as he kept Argentine Francisco Cerundolo at bay.
Korda had shown some promising form already in China, reaching the semi-finals at the Zhuhai Championships in September and the final of the Astana Open, where he lost to Adrian Mannarino.
He won the first set 7-5 against Cerundolo and looked to be cruising to victory with the second set 5-1 in his favour. However, Cerundolo fought back to level the tie to force a tie-break, only to fall just short.
Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz plays the last match of the day against Zhang Zhizhan later.
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