Musetti edges out Tiafoe and reaches the semifinals of Roland-Garros for the first time in his career
Lorenzo Musetti and Frances Tiafoe were vying for the first ticket to the men's singles semifinals at Roland-Garros this Tuesday afternoon on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Both men appeared in the quarterfinals at Porte d’Auteuil for the first time in their careers, and Tiafoe is the first American player in the men's draw to reach this stage of the competition in Paris since Andre Agassi in 2003 (alongside Tommy Paul, who will play later in the day against Carlos Alcaraz).
As a true underdog in this tournament, the Italian has been one of the in-form players during this first part of the season on the ATP circuit and has held his form since the beginning of the tournament, with victories over Hanfmann, Galan, Navone, and Rune.
Against Tiafoe, he was widely favored, and he started the match perfectly. In control at the start, he broke immediately and quickly made the difference to win the first set in 34 minutes.
Then, the American got into his match. In his rare break opportunities (only three in the entire match), the 16th player in the world quickly took the opponent's serve and managed to maintain his lead until the end of the set to level at one set each.
For the third consecutive time after his matches against Navone and Rune, Musetti lost a set, but this did not disturb him. Quickly moving forward again, the world number 7 made it clear to his opponent that there would be a battle in the third set.
The Italian accelerated at the end of the set to break the American's serve at the best moment, thus moving ahead in the score after a set lasting almost an hour. Over time, Tiafoe couldn't compete, and Musetti eventually cruised to victory (6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in 2h47).
Registering 45 winners and 32 unforced errors, Musetti was solid, knew how to make the difference when needed, and qualified for the Roland-Garros semifinals for the first time in his career (and his second Grand Slam semi after Wimbledon last year).
He is the first player to reach the final four this year at Porte d’Auteuil and will face on Friday the winner of the clash between Tommy Paul and Carlos Alcaraz, set to take place in the evening for a place in the final. He is currently 5th in the ATP Live Rankings.
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