No. 8 seed Lorenzo Musetti advanced to the fourth round at the Rolex Shanghai Masters on Monday with a hard-fought 7-5, 7-6(1) win over countryman No. 26 seed Luciano Darderi.
With the win, Musetti set up a fourth round showdown on Wednesday with No. 12 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime. Musetti has won the last two meetings against the Canadian and holds a 4-3 overall head-to-head advantage. Musetti holds the eighth and final spot for the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, Nov. 9-16. Auger-Aliassime is No. 10 in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin standings, 630 points behind Musetti.
After exchanging breaks in the first set, Musetti won the opener on his third break point in the 12th game on a high backhand volley winner. Darderi broke early in the second set to go up 2-1 but Musetti broke right back. At 5-all, Musetti found himself down love-40 but served his way out of trouble to hold. After Darderi held, Musetti raced out to a 5-0 lead in the tie-break and closed out the 2-hour, 11-minute match by winning 7-1.
"I had a chance to break and he played very well, I didn't attack on the break points and didn't go for it," said Darderi, who also lost to Musetti in a five-set second round battle at Wimbledon. "He stayed focused all the time and in the tie-break played really good and he deserved it."
Musetti finished with 44 winners, including 11 aces, and 16 unforced errors. Musetti had a 72% first serve mark, won 68% of first serve points and 54% of second serve points. Darderi won 77% of first serve points but only 31% of second serve points.
"I think the level was really high, honestly," said Musetti, who is into the fourth round in Shanghai for the first time. "Luciano played really well, especially in the second set. I think we both managed to play really, really intense. The conditions were, of course, slow, and the humidity was really high. I think the key of the match was probably the serve."
Leading into the US Open the 23-year-old Italian struggled with a 1-3 record but things turned around with his quarter-final run in Flushing Meadows. Musetti has continued his consistent play during his three tournament swing in China, reaching the final in Chengdu, the quarter-finals in Beijing and the fourth round in Shanghai. He is 11-3 since the beginning of the US Open.
"I think in the US Open I got my confidence back and I understood that I could play really well also on this kind of surface," said Musetti, who is 18-10 on hard courts this season. "In my career so far I didn't get so many results on hard courts compared to clay or on grass. Definitely I think this year the biggest improvement so far I think is the serve, which is helping me a lot."
Musetti is looking forward to his next match against Auger-Aliassime, knowing he could widen the gap with a win over the Canadian. "The main goal is Turin, and now I have a good chance to try to block the run of Felix in the next round, because he's the one who is closer to me in the race," said Musetti. "So that could be a great challenge to make a statement for Turin. And of course, trying to get to the quarterfinals, and having another chance to go even farther in this tournament."
With the win, Musetti set up a fourth round showdown on Wednesday with No. 12 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime. Musetti has won the last two meetings against the Canadian and holds a 4-3 overall head-to-head advantage. Musetti holds the eighth and final spot for the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, Nov. 9-16. Auger-Aliassime is No. 10 in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin standings, 630 points behind Musetti.
After exchanging breaks in the first set, Musetti won the opener on his third break point in the 12th game on a high backhand volley winner. Darderi broke early in the second set to go up 2-1 but Musetti broke right back. At 5-all, Musetti found himself down love-40 but served his way out of trouble to hold. After Darderi held, Musetti raced out to a 5-0 lead in the tie-break and closed out the 2-hour, 11-minute match by winning 7-1.
"I had a chance to break and he played very well, I didn't attack on the break points and didn't go for it," said Darderi, who also lost to Musetti in a five-set second round battle at Wimbledon. "He stayed focused all the time and in the tie-break played really good and he deserved it."
Musetti finished with 44 winners, including 11 aces, and 16 unforced errors. Musetti had a 72% first serve mark, won 68% of first serve points and 54% of second serve points. Darderi won 77% of first serve points but only 31% of second serve points.
"I think the level was really high, honestly," said Musetti, who is into the fourth round in Shanghai for the first time. "Luciano played really well, especially in the second set. I think we both managed to play really, really intense. The conditions were, of course, slow, and the humidity was really high. I think the key of the match was probably the serve."
Leading into the US Open the 23-year-old Italian struggled with a 1-3 record but things turned around with his quarter-final run in Flushing Meadows. Musetti has continued his consistent play during his three tournament swing in China, reaching the final in Chengdu, the quarter-finals in Beijing and the fourth round in Shanghai. He is 11-3 since the beginning of the US Open.
"I think in the US Open I got my confidence back and I understood that I could play really well also on this kind of surface," said Musetti, who is 18-10 on hard courts this season. "In my career so far I didn't get so many results on hard courts compared to clay or on grass. Definitely I think this year the biggest improvement so far I think is the serve, which is helping me a lot."
Musetti is looking forward to his next match against Auger-Aliassime, knowing he could widen the gap with a win over the Canadian. "The main goal is Turin, and now I have a good chance to try to block the run of Felix in the next round, because he's the one who is closer to me in the race," said Musetti. "So that could be a great challenge to make a statement for Turin. And of course, trying to get to the quarterfinals, and having another chance to go even farther in this tournament."
