Musetti downs Zverev with gripping Vienna comeback
pa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/lorenzo-musetti/m0ej/overview'Lorenzo Musetti/a battled back from the brink of defeat to book his spot in the semi-finals at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/vienna/337/overview'Erste Bank Open/a./p
pIn an absorbing clash with top seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-zverev/z355/overview'Alexander Zverev/a, the Italian dug deep to prevail 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 after two hours, 36 minutes. Musetti produced some of his most scintillating tennis to rally from 0/3 in the second-set tie-break, before pulling to a commanding lead in the decider./p
pldquo;It didnrsquo;t start how we planned, I was struggling to find the right balance with my forehand and the variation of my backhand,rdquo; said Musetti, who moved to 2-1 in the pairrsquo;s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. ldquo;But I stayed there, even when he came back in the second, I saved a lot of break points at 5-5. Itrsquo;s definitely a match that means a lot to me./p
pldquo;Itrsquo;s a pretty big win [in my career], because Sascha really loves to play here, on this court, in these conditions. But, after the first round, I was feeling in good shape and today I showed that.rdquo;/p
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p lang="en" dir="ltr"???????????????????????? ???????????????? ????a href="https://twitter.com/Lorenzo1Musetti?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@Lorenzo1Musetti/a upsets the No. 1⃣ seed in Vienna to reach the SFs ????a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ErsteBankOpen?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#ErsteBankOpen/a | a href="https://twitter.com/ErsteBankOpen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@ErsteBankOpen/a a href="https://t.co/rIjJpVNxVf"pic.twitter.com/rIjJpVNxVf/a/p
mdash; ATP Tour (@atptour) a href="https://twitter.com/atptour/status/1849863587722080603?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"October 25, 2024/a/blockquote
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pMusetti found himself behind on the scoreboard for much of the match, but once he surged in front in the deciding set, he never looked back. The 22-year-old struck 35 winners and saved eight out of 12 break points, according to Infosys ATP Stats, en route to earning the biggest hard-court win of his career./p
pZverev, the No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings and 2021 Vienna champion, rattled off three consecutive games from 1-4 in the second set to shift the momentum in his favour, but Musetti hung tight to reach his 17th tour-level semi-final./p
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pMusetti will face seventh seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jack-draper/d0co/overview'Jack Draper/a for a spot in the championship match in Vienna. The 22-year-old was forced to battle hard, but overcame a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/tomas-machac/m0fh/overview'Tomas Machac/a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in two hours, six minutes. With both players struggling physically, Draper found an extra level in the deciding set to surge into an eighth tour-level semi-final./p
pldquo;I thought the first set was really physical. It's always tough playing Tomas, hersquo;s so solid off the ground,rdquo; said Draper, who improved to 2-1 in the pairrsquo;s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. ldquo;I felt I had chances in the second set, but it was more of a mental battle [than a physical one]./p
pldquo;I felt like my energy dropped, my decision making became up and down. I knew I had to reset. At this level, you can't get away with spending too long in that situation. So, I'm really proud of the way I competed.rdquo;/p
pAfter a stellar season, during which he claimed his maiden ATP Tour title in Stuttgart and reached the semi-finals at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a, Draper is up to a new career-high of No. 17 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.nbsp;/p
p[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p