Photo Source: TTV
Carlos Alcaraz has fallen to Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti on the clay before. On Thursday, as the pair locked horns in front of a crowd that was full-throated in the Italian’s favor, the four-time major champion made sure it didn’t happen again.
Alcaraz managed the big moments better as he fought back from a break down against Musetti in the second set to earn a 6-3, 7-6(4) win. Alcaraz, who has won 26 of his last 28 matches on clay dating back to the start of his run to the Roland-Garros title, will face either Jannik Sinner or Tommy Paul in his first Rome final. “Today was a really difficult day with the conditions, the wind was tough to play with,” Alcaraz. “We had to play our best with these conditions. Today wasn’t about playing brilliant, spectacular tennis, it was about playing smart tennis. To play solid, waiting for the chances to play aggressive.
“I think I did it pretty well and I stayed strong mentally when things didn’t go to my side. I made the most of my opportunities and I’m really happy with everything today.”
With his win, Alcaraz became the fourth active player to reach all three of the Masters 1000 finals held on clay, along with Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Stan Wawrinka.
He battled Musetti and the crowd on a sunny Roman afternoon to improve to 5-1 lifetime against the stylish Italian.
Musetti, playing his first event as a Top-10 player had his chances in a second set that saw him play much better tennis as he hit his forehand with depth and protected his serve better than he had in the opener.
Case in point: This elegantly crafted point, finished with a flying ono-handed backhand smash: The 23-year-old had a 4-2 lead but lost the plot from there, allowing Alcaraz to break him back for 4-all before he whacked a ball into the stands in anger and received a point penalty for his transgression.
The crowd didn’t appreciate the fact that Musetti started the ninth game of the set down 15-0 and they let it be known. But Alcaraz, nonplussed, got the love hold as he took a 5-4 lead.
From there Musetti redoubled his efforts and got himself to a tiebreak (A solid effort given how frustrated he was just moments earlier), but he lost the first two points of the breaker and never held the lead, even if he was temporarily back on serve after winning two points off the Alcaraz serve to close to 4-5.
But the Italian’s final two service points went begging as his tournament came to an end. When he looks at the stats, Musetti will be disappointed to see that he only won 27 percent of his second-serve points, and this stat led to him being broken five times from the 14 break points he faced against the World No.3.
Alcaraz was relieved that things didn’t get more complicated.
“Today the crowd was too much from Lorenzo’s side, so it wasn’t easy. In general they were respectful,” he said. [Sunday] in the final, let’s see.”
If it is Sinner that Alcaraz faces in Sunday’s final, he knows that the crowd will once again play a massive factor. Sinner, who has lost his last three matches to Alcaraz, is just returning from a three-month doping ban, but he is already demonstrating scorching form. “Everybody saw the game against Casper,” he said, referring to Sinner’s 6-0, 6-1 beatdown of Norway’s Casper Ruud. “It’s a huge level. If I play against Jannik I have to be ready for that battle and obviously dealing with the crowd.”
Alcaraz is into his eighth Masters 1000 final – he has won six of his previous seven, with his only loss coming to Novak Djokovic in the 2023 Cincinnati final.