Casper Ruud is out of the 2023 Shanghai Masters after getting beaten by tricky Hungarian Fabian Marozsan in three sets.
Marozsan is quite familiar to most tennis fans because he produced one of the biggest wins of this year by beating Carlos Alcaraz in Rome. It was a huge upset, but it wasn't just the upset; it was the way he smashed Alcaraz in that match that created shockwaves.
He didn't do much after that but is back to playing really strong tennis at the ATP 1000 tournament in Shanghai. He earned himself another win over a Top 10-ranked player, and this one comes over Ruud.
It's been a rather disappointing season for Ruud, who did manage some really solid wins recently but couldn't quite get it done today against a really solid opponent.
The first set was very competitive, with chances on both sides. Marozsan was the first to break, taking a 4-3 lead over Ruud, but the Norwegian broke back immediately. After that, we saw both stabilized play, so we ended up in a tiebreak, which the Hungarian won 7-3.
He has a very aggressive style and, in these conditions, simply outhit Ruud. He had 24 winners in the 1st set compared to only 18 by Ruud. The second set saw Ruud bounce back as he produced a really strong effort, outsmarting and outhitting his opponent.
Marozsan didn't serve very well in that second set, and it gave Ruud many chances, which he used. The final set, though, was another close one. We once again saw chances on both sides, but neither broke through early.
Marozsan broke first, taking a 5-4 lead and serving it out. The final score was 7-6(3) 3-6 6-4 for the Hungarian, who had 32 winners in this one. He advances to take on either Hubert Hurkacz or Zhizhen Zhang in the quarter-finals, while Ruud suffers a big blow in the hunt for the ATP Finals.
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