Olympic bronze medallist Lorenzo Musetti came back from one set down to beat Christopher O’Connell 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 7-6 (7-4) reaching the quarter final at the Chengdu.
Musetti rallied from 3-5 down in the decisive set to clinch his 35th win of the season and advance to his seventh quarter final of the season. Musetti hit 33 winners to close out the match in 2 hours and 37 minutes.
Musetti earned his first break in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead. O’Connell broke straight back in the seventh game and held serve at love to draw level to 4-4. Musetti went up a 4-1 lead with a mini-break. O’Connell reeled off six of the next seven points to win the tie-break 7-5.
Musetti did not convert two break points in the third game before breaking serve in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. The Italian player held on his serve to win the second set 6-4.
Musetti earned a break in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. O’Connell broke straight back in the sixth game at deuce to draw level to 3-3. O’Connell broke at love in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead. Musetti broke straight back and held serve at 15 to draw level to 5-5. Musetti earned his only mini-break to win the decisive tie-break 7-4.
“That was a difficult match. O’Connell was serving pretty sharp and really precisely and I did not find so many break points. At the end I stayed focused, I played the right tactics and I managed to play well throughout the match, but at the end I stayed focused. I played the right tactics and I played the right tactics and I managed to play well throughout the match ”, said Musetti.
Musetti set up a quarter final match against Adrian Mannarino, who rallied from 1-3 0-40 down to beat 19-year-old wild card Yi Zhou 7-6 (7-3) 2-6 6-4 after 2 hours and 45 minutes reaching his second quarter final of the season after Dallas. The Frenchman fended off eight of the twelve break points he faced.
Mannarino saved a break point in each of the second and fourth games of the first set. Zhou fended off three break points in the seventh game to hold serve. Both players went on serve en route to the tie-break. Mannarino won the tie-break 7-3.
The second set started with a trade of breaks in the first two games. Zhou broke twice in the fifth and seventh games to win the second set 6-2. Zhou earned an early break in the first game of the third set. Mannarino converted his third break-back point in the sixth game to draw level to 3-3. Zhou saved three break points in the eighth game but Mannarino closed out the win with a break in the 10th game.
Mannarino beat Musetti in their only previous head-to-head match in Indian Wells in 2023.
“It was really hot conditions out there. I was feeling really tired in the match and it wasn’t easy because I could see that Zhou was super fresh”, said Mannarino.
Second seed Alexander Bublik beat Federico Agustin Gomez 6-4 6-4. Bublik saved four of the five break points he faced to close out the match after 97 minutes. Both players traded breaks in the first two games of the opening set. Bublik earned his second break in the seventh game to win the first set 6-4. Bublik saved two break points in the second game before breaking serve in the third game to win the third set 6-4.
Bublik set up a quarter final match against Shang Juncheng, who beat eighth seed Roman Safiulin 5-7 6-3 6-3.
Safiulin broke serve at 15 to take a 4-2 lead. Shang broke back in the ninth game and held serve to draw level to 5-5. Safiulin closed out the first set 7-5 with a break in the 12thgame.
Shang broke serve in the third game of the second set to take a 2-1 lead. Safiulin broke straight back in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2. Shang broke twice in the seventh and ninth games to close out the second set 6-3. Shang sealed the win with a break in the second game of the third set.
