The home fans had plenty to cheer as eighth-seeded Italian Lorenzo Musetti defeated second-seeded German Alexander Zverev 7-6 (1), 6-4 on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.
Zverev was the event’s defending champion.
Musetti’s semifinal opponent will be third-seeded Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who topped fifth-seeded Briton Jack Draper 6-4, 6-4. Musetti took a three-set loss to Alcaraz last month in the final in Monaco. It was Alcaraz’s fourth win in the players’ five meetings.
Against Zverev, Musetti put just 50 percent of his first serves in play, but he managed to save four of the six break points he faced. Meanwhile, he converted all three of his break chances on Zverev’s serve.
Musetti credited a boost from the home-nation crowd.
“Full crowd, full stadium, and that’s a big advantage,” he said. “All this week there has been incredible support from the fans. I felt the adrenaline and energy from the first point, even if it was not an easy start, but I managed to come back and find a way, and that’s the key of this match.”
The win will move Musetti up to a career-high eighth in the ATP Tour rankings, which will result in him being one of the top eight seeds at the upcoming French Open.
Alcaraz is one win shy of reaching his third straight final. Following his win in Monaco, he lost to Denmark’s Holger Rune in the championship match at Barcelona, Spain.
“I just feel that I play great tennis on clay,” Alcaraz said. “I started the clay season really well. Obviously, it was sad that I got injured after Barcelona, but it’s always difficult to be excited. I’m just excited to keep it going and try to compete as well as I can. I’m just happy to feel the good rhythm, feel the good tennis again here in Rome, and obviously this match has given me a lot of confidence.”
Alcaraz compiled a 24-8 edge in winners Wednesday, but that was offset by the Spaniard committing 29 errors to Draper’s 17.
One other match was contested Wednesday, with sixth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway earning a 6-3, 6-4 fourth-round victory over Spain’s Jaume Munar. Ruud advances to a Thursday quarterfinal match against top-seeded Italian Jannik Sinner.
In the other Thursday quarterfinal, 11th-seeded Tommy Paul of the United States will oppose 30th-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland.
–Field Level Media
