Spoiler:
Italian to play fellow #NextGenATP Korda in second round
Lorenzo Musetti battled to record the fifth Top 20 victory of his career on Tuesday at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon.
The 19-year-old Italian overcame fellow #NextGenATP star and seventh-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6(3), 3-6, 7-5 in two hours and 46 minutes at the ATP 250 clay-court event.
“We played a really intense match, a real fight,” said Musetti. “I learned from the loss to Felix in Barcelona. It’s a good start and I hope to continue like that.”
How To Watch
Musetti, who has now won 10 of his 16 tour-level matches this year, including a run to the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC semi-finals (l. to Tsitsipas), will now challenge Sebastian Korda. The American sits behind Auger-Aliassime and Musetti in the ATP Race To Milan for a place at the Next Gen ATP Finals in November.
“It’s going to be really tough [against Korda] and he’s one of the best #NextGenATP right now,” said Musetti. “I know him so well from juniors. We never played against each other. He is a fighter, so I will try and do my best to get into the quarter-finals.”
Musetti is currently at a career-high No. 82 in the FedEx ATP Rankings and is 5-3 lifetime against Top 20 opponents, having beat Stan Wawrinka (2020 Rome), Diego Schwartzman and Grigor Dimitrov (2021 Acapulco) and Hubert Hurkacz (2021 Rome).
Felix
Musetti recovered from 15/40 down in the opening game and soon caused 2019 Lyon finalist Auger-Aliassime problems. Regularly stepping inside the baseline, Musetti broke for a 3-1 advantage when Auger-Aliassime mis-hit a forehand, but the momentum soon changed.
Tactical errors started to cost Musetti, who was broken in the seventh game and Auger-Aliassime could have taken a 5-4 lead, but the Canadian hit a return long on break point. Musetti broke clear at 3/3 in the tie-break with three consecutive winners en route to the 64-minute opener.
Auger-Aliassime bounced back early in the second set, breaking serve with a powerful forehand winner for a 2-0 lead. Despite letting Musetti back in, the Canadian pressed again with his forehand and surged to a 5-2 advantage, before closing out the second set with a smash.
Auger-Aliassime twice came close to breaking Musetti in the decider and later paid the price, when he hit a backhand approach into the net at 2-3, 15/40. But the World No. 17 put Musetti under pressure when the Italian served for the match at 5-3 and got his reward. The match ended on a double fault from Auger-Aliassime, who drops to a 14-10 record in 2021.
In other matches on Tuesday, Tommy Paul defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, fifth seed Gael Monfils eased past Thiago Seyboth Wild and Karen Khachanov outlasted wild card Benjamin Bonzi in a third-set tie-break. Rain postponed the clash between Jannik Sinner and Aslan Karatsev to Wednesday.
Lorenzo Musetti battled to record the fifth Top 20 victory of his career on Tuesday at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon.
The 19-year-old Italian overcame fellow #NextGenATP star and seventh-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6(3), 3-6, 7-5 in two hours and 46 minutes at the ATP 250 clay-court event.
“We played a really intense match, a real fight,” said Musetti. “I learned from the loss to Felix in Barcelona. It’s a good start and I hope to continue like that.”
How To Watch
Musetti, who has now won 10 of his 16 tour-level matches this year, including a run to the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC semi-finals (l. to Tsitsipas), will now challenge Sebastian Korda. The American sits behind Auger-Aliassime and Musetti in the ATP Race To Milan for a place at the Next Gen ATP Finals in November.
“It’s going to be really tough [against Korda] and he’s one of the best #NextGenATP right now,” said Musetti. “I know him so well from juniors. We never played against each other. He is a fighter, so I will try and do my best to get into the quarter-finals.”
Musetti is currently at a career-high No. 82 in the FedEx ATP Rankings and is 5-3 lifetime against Top 20 opponents, having beat Stan Wawrinka (2020 Rome), Diego Schwartzman and Grigor Dimitrov (2021 Acapulco) and Hubert Hurkacz (2021 Rome).
Felix
Musetti recovered from 15/40 down in the opening game and soon caused 2019 Lyon finalist Auger-Aliassime problems. Regularly stepping inside the baseline, Musetti broke for a 3-1 advantage when Auger-Aliassime mis-hit a forehand, but the momentum soon changed.
Tactical errors started to cost Musetti, who was broken in the seventh game and Auger-Aliassime could have taken a 5-4 lead, but the Canadian hit a return long on break point. Musetti broke clear at 3/3 in the tie-break with three consecutive winners en route to the 64-minute opener.
Auger-Aliassime bounced back early in the second set, breaking serve with a powerful forehand winner for a 2-0 lead. Despite letting Musetti back in, the Canadian pressed again with his forehand and surged to a 5-2 advantage, before closing out the second set with a smash.
Auger-Aliassime twice came close to breaking Musetti in the decider and later paid the price, when he hit a backhand approach into the net at 2-3, 15/40. But the World No. 17 put Musetti under pressure when the Italian served for the match at 5-3 and got his reward. The match ended on a double fault from Auger-Aliassime, who drops to a 14-10 record in 2021.
In other matches on Tuesday, Tommy Paul defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, fifth seed Gael Monfils eased past Thiago Seyboth Wild and Karen Khachanov outlasted wild card Benjamin Bonzi in a third-set tie-break. Rain postponed the clash between Jannik Sinner and Aslan Karatsev to Wednesday.
