Lorenzo Musetti was leading 6-2 6-3 2-0 when Flavio Cobolli was forced to retire due to injury. in the all-Italian third round clash at the US Open Musetti broke five times to reach the fourth round in New York for the first time.
The 10th seed will face either Zizou Bergs or Jaume Munar in the fourth round. He leads 1-0 in his head-to-head matches against Bergs, but he trails 1-2 against Munar.
Cobolli did not convert a break point in the first game. Musetti missed two consecutive break points in the second game. Cobolli was leading 30-15 in the sixth game, but Musetti won three consecutive points to break serve.
Musetti earned a break point in the eighth game, but he did not convert it. He served out the first set with a hold at love after 38 minutes.
Musetti earned an early break at love in the first game of the second set. He held serve at 30 in the second game to open up a 2-0 lead. The Roland Garros semifinalist went down 15-40 in the fourth game, but he won four consecutive points to hold his serve. Musetti broke at love in the fifth game to open up a 4-1 lead. Cobolli pulled one of the two breaks back at love in the sixth game for 2-4. Musetti earned his third break in the seventh game earning his chance to serve for the match, but he had to save two break points before closing out the second set 6-2 on his second opportunity.
Musetti earned an early break in the first game of the third set and consolidated it with a hold at love before Cobolli retired from the match.
Cobolli received treatment on his arm during the match.
“I had some cramps the other two matches in my fingers and also in my hand, but I played without any problem Today I started my practice and I played without pain, but when I tried my serve I felt something not comfortable in the arm and it got worse in the match”, said Cobolli.
