Lorenzo Musetti Advances To His First Grand Slam Semifinals At Wimbledon

Lorenzo Musetti showed his best game at the end of the quarter-finals, as the Italian advanced to his first Grand Slam semi-final by beating Taylor Fritz. The Musetto beat the 13th seed from the United States, with a score of 3-6 7-6(5) 6-2 3-6 6-1 at Wimbledon on Wednesday, July 10.

The 25th seeded journey to join his compatriot and world number one Jannik Sinner, as the winner of this year's major tournament faces major hurdles as he meets seven-time All England Club champion Novak Djokovic in the last four.

"I'm very happy with what I accomplished today. I'm happy with the way I fought until the end," Musetti told reporters. "I found a way to develop my game set by set. This is a big reaction from me in the fifth set. I might play my best tennis this week."

Musetti has beaten Djokovic once in six meetings and forced the Serbian to play five sets in their latest game at Roland Garros. The 22-year-old shows the quality of a similar fight against Fritz after falling behind early in the game.

After maintaining service in a tight first game, Fritz took an initial break for 3-1 when Musetti made a backhand error, and the American consolidated the lead in the next game with a strong foreplay shot to set the tone for the first set.

The Eastbourne champion, Fritz, continues to improve his defense and service in sunny sunlight, occasionally attracting admiration from spectators at Court One with rocket fire from the baseline, and taking the lead in a match with ace.

After the two exchanged breaks at the start of the second set, Queen's Club runners-up Musetti took the lead again to 5-3, and even though Fritz removed the deficit, the Italian leveled up his game to win the tiebreak. Musetti mixes his game with chips and slices, forces Fritz to make an unusual mistake, and easily goes through a third set with two breaks.

"That's probably something I say... (is) worse for opponents, not having every equal blow," said Musetti. "Especially against a good baseliner like Taylor, if you play flat all the time, you can't win points. I mean, I play according to his game. So maybe it's a strategy to try mixing every ball and try to lead the game. At certain points in the game, I feel from the baseline I can win every point. He's not in a good position with all my variations."

However, Musetti gave Fritz a way to return to the game after losing his next set before leveling up his game again. As the shadow covered a neat grass court and windy weather made life difficult for the players, Musetti built a 5-0 lead in the decider set and finished it with service, when Fritz hit the ball out after falling awkwardly near the net on the previous point.

Challenge Djokovic

Musetti's prize was a meeting with 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic, who advanced to his 13th Wimbledon semi-final, equaling the record, after ninth seed to Australia, Alex De Minaur, withdrew from their match due to a hip injury.

"I have played against him many times in various stages, even the big one. I beat him once in Monte Carlo. I lost the other game," said Musetti, before remembering their game at Roland Garros this year which ended shortly after 3 a.m. in Paris.

"With Nole, after the game I always learned a lesson. The last game was a very intense match of both players and very tense. Against him, you may be more stressed because he may be the best player ever or one of the best. You step onto the pitch with a different mentality. If I play in a certain way, I might have my chance in the next round," he said.