Lorenzo Musetti beat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3 7-5 to advance to his ATP Tour final at the European Open in Hamburg.
Musetti raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first set with two breaks in the second and fourth games. The 20-year-old Italian player missed two consecutive set points at 5-1 and dropped his serve.
Musetti saved a break point at 5-3 30-40 before closing out the opening set 6-3 on his third set point.
Musetti opened up a 3-1 lead with a breakin the opening game of the second set. Cerundolo broke back in the sixth game to draw level to 3-3. Musetti broke for the second time in the seventh game. Musetti missed a match point at 5-4 A-40 with an underarm serve. Cerundolo broke back to draw level to 5-5. Musetti went down 1-3 in the tie-break but he reeled off six consecutive points to seal the second set.
Lorenzo Musetti: “It was not easy because he was playing really good. I was playing under pressure. I saw him so far from the baseline on the ad side. I don’t know why I did the underarm serve, but it didn’t work. At the end I didn’t take the option of the underarm serve. I went for the kick and serve volley and it worked. So I am really happy”
Musetti set up an all-Next Gen final against Carlos Alcaraz, who beat Alex Molcan 7-6 (7-2) 6-1. Alaraz led by. Break twice in the first set but Molcan broke back both times to force the first set to the tie-break.
Alcaraz raced out to a 6-0 lead with three mini-breaks. Molcan pulled one break-back, but Alcaraz closed out the tie-break 7-2 on her third set point.
Alcaraz broke three times to seal the second set 6-1. “I could not read the drop-shots from him. He was better on the drop-shots today, so I was a little frustrated in the first set”, said Alcaraz.