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Birthday weeks don't come much better than the one that Fabian Marozsan is experiencing at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.
Two days after turning 24, the world No.91 Hungarian edged Casper Ruud to reach a first ATP Masters 10000 quarterfinal.
It followed an earlier upset over 11th-seeded Alex de Minaur in Shanghai and added to a big-name win that Marozsan claimed over Carlos Alcaraz, as a qualifier, in Rome.
"It was the biggest present for myself," Marozsan said having celebrated his birthday on Sunday. "I'm just really happy to be playing against Casper. I mean he's one of the top-seeded players here.
"He's a good chance to win almost every tournament, so I am just really happy to play against him in my tournament here in Shanghai."
The big-hitting Marozsan asserted from the outset, forcing Ruud to defend early break point opportunities. After an exchange of service breaks, he took control when the first set progressed to a tiebreak.
After Ruud fought back in the second set to force a decider, Marozsan maintained composure in the tense last stage of the match. "It's never easy to finish. He's a top-10 player," he commented after securing the 7-6(3) 3-6 6-4 victory with a forehand winner on his second match point.
"I tried to do my best. I tried every serve, every forehand, maybe I played a little bit risky sometimes but yeah, … I'm just really happy to win the match."
Withstanding 14 aces, Marozsan recorded 32 winners compared to 30 from Ruud in the two-hour, 39-minute battle.
It provides pleasing confidence ahead of a quarterfinal meeting with Hubert Hurkacz or Zhang Zhizhen. "I played one of my best matches in Shanghai," Marozsan smiled.
Sebastian Korda backed up his third-round upset of Daniil Medvedev with a straight-sets win over Francisco Cerundolo.
"It's definitely completely a different tennis, in a way. Daniil's a defensive player, and there was a lot of people," said the American, who secured his 7-5 7-6(6) victory in one hour and 38 minutes. "But I'm happy with the way everything's going right now, and just really enjoying myself here."
Korda was most pleased to lift his level on the second set, when Cerundolo clawed his way back from a 2-5 deficit to level the set in the 10th game.
"He's an incredible player, probably one of the best forehands on tour, so when he gets hot, it's super dangerous," Korda said. "I'm happy with the way I played overall, especially in the second set, I stayed calm, and in the big moments I did pretty well." In progressing to the final eight in Shanghai, the American equals his best ATP Masters 1000 as a quarterfinalist at 2021 Miami. He also moves to No.23 in the ATP live rankings, marking a new high in his career.
"You obviously want to win every single tournament. It's a long year, so you got to be consistent … I would love to finish top 20. I'm getting closer, but it's still a long way, long roads ahead," said Korda, who will face either Jannik Sinner or Ben Shelton in Shanghai next.
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