Lorenzo Musetti It took almost half an hour to reach the semifinal of Masters 1,000 from Rome against Carlos Alcaraz. The Italian is playing a more than interesting beaten earth tour, but he has lacked to finish off, with Roland Garros still on the horizon. Jack Draper cut off the road in the penultimate round of the Mutua Madrid Open and Carlos has crossed twice, in the final of Montecarlo and in these “semis” of the Italian capital (6-3 and 7-6 (7/4)), in a strange match.
Musetti went to warm up, took the photo, lost the raffle of Campos, was on track, but it had nothing to do with the player who had seen the rest of the week. He had asked in the previous local public to be with him, that it was one more element against Spanish, but his performance did not help it. He changed his elegant tennis for an accumulation of errors. He snorted, he was attenance, and Alcaraz didn’t need too much to take two advantage breaks. Musetti came to recover one, but failed to go further, although he did strive a little.
The duel matched, but not above, below. Carlos of his opponent’s failures was infectedand the encounter had barely rhythm, with some good points along the way, which were the exception. There were many factors to take into account, because the sun came out and that makes the ball more alive, which was good news for the Murcian; But the wind did not leave, which made it on one side of the field for and in the other against. He went and the air came. He stopped or, suddenly, raised swirls and the tennis players made strange movements because they did not calculate the positioning well.
That discomfort permeated the tennis players. In the absence of the best version of none of them, it was clear that In the final, the one who had the best head and the one who better accepted the situation. Alcaraz carried the advantage of the first set, but in the second one twice it was seen with a break down. The first solved it at the moment, the second cost her, but ended up matching her (4-4) with a direct rest of the winning right. The Spanish had a very good attitude, without reproaching too much what was happening. Something more complaint was Musetti. The Italian talked with himself every time the ball stayed on the tape, or asked for explanations to his box. Also did Alcaraz, very receptive to what Juan Carlos Ferrero said. “Get big there,” asked the coach, combined with some advice such as that from the side of the wind against you could get more left.
With 5-5 in that second partial, Carlos committed two fouls, but that did not dislodge him either. Positive reinforcements were made with each shot that came out: the fist in the direction of his group and the teeth showing rage and conviction. He did not affect him either the first game ballwith 6-5. He subtracted well, but Musetti responded. And neither from 5-2 to 5-4 in the Tie-Break, losing two outlets. The opportunity came with Musetti’s service, and did not miss her. A winning right put the end to the meeting. “Look for it,” Ferrero had asked for. And he did so.
Alcaraz will fight for the title on Sunday against the winner of the Sinner – Tommy Paul, who play today at 20:30. If the land tour of Musetti is very good, that of Spanish is even better: champion in Montecarlo, finalist in the Count of Godó and, for the moment, finalist in Rome.