Alcaraz into Rome final, disappointment for Musetti
The Spaniard won 6-3, 76 (4) to reach the Rome final
Carlos Alcaraz in Rome (Zuma/PSNewz)
Lorenzo Musetti couldn’t give the Rome crowd quite what they wanted as Carlos Alcaraz once again proved himself supreme in tiebreaks – a fifth in a row to give him a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win and a place in the Italian Open final.
Insult was added to injury for the home fans when their man received a point penalty for ball abuse late in the second set having already been warned.
The Italian wanted a measure of vengeance after last month’s Monte-Carlo final, when he was physically not at his best and could not compete against the world No 3, ultimately losing 3-6, 6-1, 6-0.
Musetti did give Alcaraz plenty to think about, winning two games at 4-1 down in the first set, and then racing to a 4-2 lead in the second.
But the third seed fought back, once again showing steely resolve in a tiebreak to make it through to the title match.
Musetti: Today was a tough day
Musetti has not beaten Alcaraz in the last three years, with his only win coming in the Hamburg final in 2022, 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-4.
“Today was tough day for me,” Musetti said in his press conference afterwards. “Honestly, I entered on court with such a great mentality. But then afterwards, after the first point, honestly I start to struggle with keeping that attitude that I show in the past months, in the past week, that help me to come back from various situation and from various difficult moments of the last matches.
“Today was, yeah, of course the wind, shadow. Everything was complicated for me. I couldn’t feel the ball really well honestly.
“But I think both of us, we couldn’t show our tennis. At least for me, was so complicated to play. I was too much focus on the negative things today. That’s why I’m very disappointed about the chance that I miss to try.”
Alcaraz is now 26-2 on clay in the last year, looking on ominous form ahead of Roland-Garros. He has also tied Stefan Edberg for the second-most wins in the first 100 matches at ATP Masters 1000 level, behind only Rafael Nadal.
Musetti can take pride in having beaten two former Rome champions – Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev – en route to the semi-finals, and in doing so becoming the ninth man to reach all three clay Masters 1000 semi-finals in one season.
