Local fans had a lot to celebrate when the eighth classified, the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, beat the second classified, the German Alexander Zverev, 7-6 (1), 6-4 Wednesday in the quarter-finals of the BNL of Italia in Rome.
Zverev was the title champion of the event.
The Musetti rival in the semi-finals will be the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz, the third chief of the series, who beat the Jack Draper British, fifth chief of the serial, 6-4 and 6-4. Musetti lost in three sets against Alcaraz last month in the Monaco final. It was Alcaraz’s fourth victory in the five confrontations between the two players.
Against Zverev, Musetti put only 50% of his first services at stake, but managed to save four of the six break points he faced. Meanwhile, he took advantage of his three break -up opportunities with the Zverev service.
Musetti attributed success to the impulse received from local fans.
“Fans, the full stadium, and that’s a great advantage,” he said. “Throughout this week, there was incredible support for fans. I felt adrenaline and energy from the first point, although this is not an easy start, but I managed to overcome and find the way, and that’s the key to this game.”
The victory will move Musetti in eighth place in the ATP Tour ranking, the highest of his career, which will make him one of the first eight chiefs at Open in France.
Alcaraz has no victory to reach his third consecutive final. After his triumph in Monaco, he lost against Rune Danish Holger in the match for the championship played in Barcelona, Spain.
“I think I play excellent tennis in whipped ground,” said Alcaraz. “I started very well the clay season. Obviously, it was sad to injure myself after Barcelona, but it is always difficult to be excited. I am simply excited to continue and try to compete as well as possible. I am happy to feel the right pace, to feel good tennis here in Rome, and obviously, this game gave me a lot of confidence.”
Alcaraz compiled an advantage of 24-8 among winners on Wednesday, but it was remunerated for the 29 errors made by the Spanish against the 17th.
On Wednesday, another match was played, in which the Norwegian Casper Ruud, sixth leader, won 6-3 and 6-4 in the fourth round in the Spanish Jaume Munar. Ruud goes to the quarter -finals on Thursday against the Italian Jannik Sinner, first chief of the series.
In the other quarter-final match Thursday, the American Tommy Paul, eleventh chief of the series, will face Polish Hubert Hurkacz, a series thirty-head.
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