Lorenzo Musetti cruised past Jaume Munar 6-3 6-0 6-1 to reach the quarter final at the US Open for the first time in his career. Musetti had never gone beyond the third round at this hard court tournament in the past editions of this tournament.
Musetti became the first Italian player to reach the semifinals at all three Masters 1000 tournaments o clay in Monte-Carlo, Rome and Madrid and at Roland Garros, but he was forced to withdraw against Carlos Alcaraz due to a leg injury. He was sidelined until Wimbledon where he lost to Nikoloz Basilashvili in the first round. Musetti arrived in New York with just one win in four matches on the North American hard-court swing.
Munar led 2-1 against Musetti in their previous head-to-head matches.
Musetti earned the first break in the third game of the opening set after forehand errors from Munar. Musetti went up a double break in the ninth game to win the first set 6-3.
Musetti won the second set by a bagel with three breaks in the second, fourth and sixth games.
Musetti faced three breaks in the third game of the third game, but he saved them. The number 10 seed converted his first break point in the fourth game. He earned his second break in the sixth game to close out the match securing his spot in the quarter final. He will face either his compatriot Jannik Sinner or Alexander Bublik.
“I can’t explain myself sorry. I’m a little bit emotional right now, because honestly the past month has been terrible. I was a little bit sad about my tennis, my game, my results. I lost three tough matches with many, many chances. Tennis is like this, you have a lot of ups and downs. You have to stay there mentally, and that’s what I’ve done in the last couple of weeks and I’m really proud of myself”, said Musetti.
