In the “wake” of Jannik Sinner, Italian tennis confirms itself in great shape and can now shed the label of “landlubbers”: Lorenzo Musetti reaches the final in the parallel tournament in Halle, Il Queen’s (another ATP 500) beating the Australian in three sets Jordan Thompson with the score 6-3 3-6 6-3 after two hours and 17 minutes of play. Great, great, the number two in Italian tennis and current number 30 in the world who he will challenge Tommy Paulnumber 5 in the draw, who won the American derby against Sebastian Korda with a score of 6-4 7-6.
Musetti’s victory
In the first set, the tennis player from Carrara immediately starts very strong, stealing the break from the Australian to reach 3-0: at that point it is a winning ride up to 6-3 which he obtains with an excellent match and management of the game even in the moments in which he had some empty passages. In the second set he struggled a lot due to the domineering return of Thompson who seems to imitate Lorenzo in the first set: immediately a break and quickly goes up 3-0, then comes another break and there is a very tough partial of 5-0. Musetti tries the reaction, managing to break and keep the points on his serve but the distance is such that he ends up 6-3: everything is decided on the third set where balance reigns: both protagonists maintain the point on serve until 4-3 for the blue. The eighth game is fundamental for the fate of the match where with excellent lobs and crossed forehands Musetti gets the decisive break which takes him to 5-3 and serves for the match. There is no “little arm” but only the desire to win and the decisive 6-3 arrives with which the match ends.
The words of the blue
At the end of the race, Musetti was interviewed on the field where he explained that he had played “one of the toughest matches this week. He played at an exceptional level especially in the second set. In the end it was very tough, I came out of it playing some excellent shots and the break I got gave me the confidence to finish.
That was the key moment: I had already had many opportunities and in the end I did it“. After a short pause he underlined the beauty of being in the final “in a tournament and in a club like Queen’s which has such an important history“.
