Cincinnati Masters: Marozsan claims another big scalp, knocks out Dimitrov

Hungarian Fabian Marozsan advanced to the last 16 of the Cincinnati Masters by defeating Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 8 seed, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center on Thursday.

The win was an extension of Marozsan’s brilliant record against big names on hard courts at the highest level. The world No 50 is now 4-2 against top 10 players on hard courts, with a 5-5 record overall against top 10 players on all surfaces. He’s also 13-4 in Masters 1000 events across his career.

While Marozsan’s victories are usually constructed off the back of lights-out shot-making, this time it was a little different. Dimitrov raced out to a set lead and seemed to be cruising, holding serve easily and playing clean tennis.

Marozsan then eked his way back into the match with some clutch returning, winning nine of 13 points on the second serve return and converting both break points he faced.

In the deciding set, it was surprisingly the Hungarian’s second serve that made the difference. He won 80 percent of points behind the shot, having been at 28 percent across the first two sets. This meant he faced no break points, and again, was able to make the most of his opportunities on Dimitrov’s serve to grab a crucial break in the sixth game.

Marozsan will face the winner of the match between American Ben Shelton, the No 12 seed, and Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry next.

In the previous round of the Cincy Open, the Hungarian won against French qualifier Corentin Moutet (6-4, 7-6 (2)).

Cincinnati Masters 1000, other second-round results (Lindner Family Tennis Center, hard, USD 6.795.555, most recent results first):

• Casper Ruud vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime
• Gael Monfils vs. Carlos Alcaraz
• Holger Rune vs. Nuno Borges
• Jack Draper vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
• Ben Shelton vs. Tomas Martin Etcheverry: thursday
• Brandon Nakashima vs. Arthur Fils: thursday
• Andrey Rublev (6) beat Zhizhen Zhang: 6-4, 6-3
• Pablo Carreno Busta beat Max Purcell (WC): 6-3, 6-3
• Hubert Hurkacz (5) beat Yoshihito Nishioka (Q): 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1
• Flavio Cobolli beat Luciano Darderi: 7-6 (4), 3-1 ret.
• Alexander Zverev (3) beat Karen Khachanov: 6-3, 6-2
• Jiri Lehecka beat Daniil Medvedev (4): 7-6 (2), 6-4
• Jordan Thompson beat Sebastian Baez: 6-2, 6-4
• Frances Tiafoe beat Lorenzo Musetti (14): 6-3, 6-2
• Jannik Sinner (1) beat Alex Michelsen (Q): 6-4, 7-5