Lorenzo Musetti has broken new ground at Wimbledon after beating Taylor Fritz to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final at 22.
The Italian 25th seed battled back from a set down to defeat his American rival 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, who is currently ranked 13 places higher than him in the PIF ATP rankings in 12th position. Fritz entered the quarter-final encounter on an eight-match winning streak and had beaten Alexander Zverev in the previous round. His first-ever win over a top five player at a Grand Slam event.
Musetti’s marathon win saw him produce a total of 34 winners and take advantage of a costly 55 unforced errors from a lacklustre Fritz in what was a roller-coaster encounter on Court One that featured 12 breaks of serve. He has become only the fourth man from his country to reach the last four at Wimbledon. It is also the first time he has beaten a top 20 player at the tournament.
“I have no words. It’s tough to speak but I’ll try my best. I think I haven’t realized yet what I’ve done.” Musetti said during his on-court interview.
“We were joking with my team about trying to play on the big stage at Wimbledon. I had never tried Court 1.
“To walk on this amazing stadium was really an honor for me.”
There was drama on the penultimate point after Fritz slipped on the grass and jarred his knee. He stayed on the ground for a little bit holding his knee before continuing with the match. The injury scare didn’t faze Musetti who sealed victory with the help of a speedy serve his rival returned out.
“I think I played a really fantastic match. Taylor was in great shape. “I’m really happy to be in my first semi-final here and I want to say thanks to my team and all my friends from my home town to came to support me..” He reflected.
Musetti’s breakthrough comes in the middle of what has been a stellar period on the grass where he has reached the semi-finals of the Stuttgart and then the final at Queen’s. He has now won 12 out of his last 14 matches played.
The world No.25 will next take on Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, who received a walkover earlier in the day. He trails their head-to-head 1-5 with his sole victory occurring on clay at the 2023 Monte Carlo Open.
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