Lorenzo Musetti ‘surprised himself’ to reach first tour final

Lorenzo Musetti has cracked a poor run of form to reach a first ATP tour level final on the clay of the 500 level Hamburg Open. 

The Italian, 20, defeated Bastad champion Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) before Carlos Alcaraz completed the title match line-up by downing Alex Molcan.

After nearly three months without a tour level win, Musetti admitted he was stunned to get to the final in Germany.

“It means a lot for me,” he said in his post-match interview. “It’s a surprise for me because I was not playing my best tennis last week [in Bastad], so I didn’t expect to be in the final here.”

Musetti showed promise in 2021 by reaching tour semi-finals in Sardinia, Acapulco and Lyon before qualifying for the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.

But Musetti had not done the same in 2022 until Hamburg, the tournament seeing his first time winning more than two consecutive tour matches in 2022.

The match against Cerundolo did provide dram though, particularly when Musetti threw in an underarm serve on match point, ultimately losing the point.

“I saw him so far from the baseline on the ad side,” the Italian explained. “I don’t know why I did the underarm serve, but it didn’t work. At the end I didn’t take the option of the underarm serve. I went for the kick and serve-and-volley and it worked. So I’m really happy.”

Musetti will have his work cut out for him if he is to defeat top seed Alcaraz for a first tour title.

Alcaraz is five from five in career ATP finals so far, having not dropped a set in those five final triumphs.

 

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