Lorenzo saves himself in the tie-break of the second set and then beats a revived Swiss in the third and reaches the quarterfinals in Athens. He will face Muller, he can still hope to qualify in Turin
Lorenzo Musetti comes within two points of a sensational elimination on his debut in the 250 tournament in Athens and a farewell to the Finals, but he saves himself in the tie-break of the second set against the revived Stan Wawrinka and then flies towards victory in the third set. What is certain is that the Tuscan had a really tough time against the three-time Slam winner, in what was a battle between (splendid) one-handed backhands, which lasted 2 hours and 25 minutes and ended with a score of 4-6 7-6 (5) 6-4 for the number two seed in the tournament. It wasn’t a good performance for Musetti, who not surprisingly cursed himself several times, but the important thing was to win and the Italian won, albeit with some difficulty. Catching Wawrinka (wild card) on his debut, then, is not easy. The Swiss, 40 years old and now with limited autonomy, can still do badly during the day, and that’s what he did for almost two sets, especially on serve and with his divine backhand, still a wonder to behold.
the match
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In the first set Wawrinka got the break which then decided the partial at 3-3, with Musetti who at 4-5 had two counter-break points, which were not exploited. In the second it was a continuous tug of war with zero break points and the inevitable conclusion to the tie-break, where Wawrinka served 5-4 with a minibreak advantage. But Musetti did very well here at keeping calm and scoring three consecutive points to end the run and get back into the game. In the third Lorenzo made a sprint start, with an immediate break ahead and no chance given to the now tired Wawrinka. In the next round the Italian, who absolutely must win the tournament to qualify for the Finals, will have to face the French Muller.