Fábián Marozsán's next opponent will be a French player, 22nd ranked Adrian Mannarino.Continue reading
Fábián Marozsán has overtaken Márton Fucsovics to become the first Hungarian to hold the top spot in the world rankings for men’s tennis for the first time in his career.
The 24-year-old Marozsán has dropped one place to 65th in the latest rankings, while Fucsovics, 69th, has slipped ten places by losing a match in Brisbane, Australia.
In the women’s event, three Hungarians were in the top 100 in 2022: Anna Bondár, Dalma Gálfi, and Panna Udvardy. At the end of last year, none of them were among the immediate elite, and now Bondár is only 118th, Gálfi 139th, and Udvardy 159th.
In addition to the best Hungarian place in the ranking, Fábián Marozsán has reached the last eight of the USD 661,500 (HUF 232 million) tennis tournament in Auckland, New Zealand.
The Hungarian player met 37-year-old Frenchman Gael Monfils for the first time in his career on Monday. Marozsán missed two weeks of the December Open due to illness and lost to Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut in the opening round in Hong Kong last week.
Marozsán fought his way to 6:5 before the decisive tie-break.
The Hungarian advanced with a great win.
“Two days before the match, I started to feel for the first time this year that my training is going a bit better and that I can do some valuable work,” Marozsán began his summary. “There are still gaps and I am still not fully healthy, but it looks like we are really on the right track. I also got a good draw, because although it is never easy to play against a former top ten player, Monfils is an older tennis player and he has not played that much in the last year, so maybe his match routine has gone, and that is good for my current situation.”
In the next round, Marozsán faces an even tougher opponent in the form of American Ben Shelton, who is ranked 16th in the world list and was a semi-finalist at the U.S. Open last year.
The Hungarian player, who is preparing for next week’s Australian Open main draw, is also competing in doubles, where he will start with Germany’s Sebastian Ofner, and their first opponent will be France’s Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul.
Via MTI; Featured image via Facebook/Fábián Marozsán