Shock of the tournament in Rome as Alcaraz falls to qualifier Marozsan

It was the shock of the year so far – possibly of the decade, if that is not too much of an exaggeration. A man playing in his first-ever ATP main draw knocked out the incoming world No 1 from a Masters 1000 tournament.

That is what happened as Hungarian qualifier Fabian Marozsan won against Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the second seed, 6-3, 7-6 (4) to advance to the last 16 of the Rome Masters at the Foro Italico on Monday.

Marozsan, currently the world No 135 but who will shoot up the rankings and be knocking on the door of the Top 100 now, will face Croat Borna Coric, the No 15 seed, next.

The Hungarian beat Frenchman Corentin Moutet (6-0, 6-7 (8), 6-2) and edged out Czech Jiri Lehecka, the No 32 seed (4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4)) earlier in the tournament.

Marozsan, aged 23, is playing in his first ATP Tour main draw – having failed to make it through qualification at four previous events.

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Alcaraz was riding high on a 12-match winning streak having lost just two sets in his campaigns in Barcelona, Madrid and now Rome. His only defeat on clay so far this year has been in the Rio final, at the hands of Cameron Norrie – and this is only his third defeat of the campaign, added to his loss to Jannik Sinner in the Miami semi-final.

Regardless of this result, he will return to the top of the rankings next Monday.

In the previous round of the Italian Open, Alcaraz, currently ranked No 2, defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas (6-4, 6-1).

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Rome Masters, other third-round results (Foro Italico, clay, EUR 7.705.780, most recent results first):

• Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Lorenzo Sonego
• J.J. Wolf vs. Alexander Zverev
• Lorenzo Musetti vs. Frances Tiafoe
• Bernabe Zapata Miralles vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Andrey Rublev vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
• Yannick Hanfmann (Q) beat Marco Cecchinato: 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
• Borna Coric beat Roberto Carballes Baena: 7-6 (3), 6-1
• Jannik Sinner (8) beat Alexander Shevchenko (LL): 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2
• Cameron Norrie (13) beat Marton Fucsovics: 6-2, 7-6 (4)
• Casper Ruud (4) beat Alexander Bublik: 6-1, 4-6, 7-6
• Novak Djokovic (1) beat Grigor Dimitrov (26): 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
• Laslo Djere beat Cristian Garin: 6-3, 2-1 ret.
• Holger Rune (7) beat Fabio Fognini (WC): 6-4, 6-2
• Francisco Cerundolo (24) beat Gregoire Barrere: 6-7, 6-2, 6-2
• Alexei Popyrin (Q) beat Roman Safiullin (Q): 7-5, 7-5