Davis Cup: Kecmanovic puts Serbia into early semi-final lead v Italy, beats ailing Musetti

Miomir Kecmanovic gave Serbia an early lead in their Davis Cup semi-final against Italy, beating Lorenzo Musetti 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-1.

It looked set to be a tight and lengthy encounter until midway through the second set when the Italian’s challenge fell away, and judging from the medical time-out he took in the decider, he was hampered by a left thigh issue.

Musetti has now lost his last four singles matches in the Davis Cup – in sharp contrast to Kecmanovic, who has won his last four in singles and doubles combined.

However, when it came to matches against Musetti, he had not taken a single set off his opponent in their last two encounters, and history looked on course to repeat itself when Musetti hit a forehand winner to take the first set in a tiebreak after having to save two set points.

Kecmanovic: It wasn’t easy

Kecmanovic came out firing, though, after that first set which lasted one hour and 14 minutes, and capitalised on Musetti’s collapse.

“It wasn’t easy at all,” Kecmanovic said in his press conference. “I wasn’t positive after the first set! But, you know, I knew that if I wanted to have a chance to win, I had to switch the mindset and, you know, especially now when you play for so much, you know you’re going to give everything you have.

“It definitely wasn’t easy, but I’m pretty proud of myself that I was able to pull it off.”

Musetti: I’m really sad and disappointed

“I’m really, I think you can see, really sad and disappointed about how it end, the match,” said Musetti afterwards. “Of course I don’t want to take any, let’s say — I don’t want to leave any, let’s say, compliments on Miomir win, because he deserve it. I’m happy for him, because he showed really a great level and really a great consistence till the end.

“Unfortunately at the beginning of the third set, I felt something. Of course was impacting my game mentally and physically. So I start to move slower and serve slower, so of course Miomir took advantage of it. That was pretty easy for him finishing the match.”

The second singles match of the tie will be an eagerly-anticipated rematch between Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic, who played each other twice last week, splitting the wins – but it was the world No 1 who had the most important victory, triumphing to take the Nitto ATP Finals title once more.

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