Musetti won 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 over Luca Van Assche in the quarterfinal after more than three and a half hours on court. He will face world No. 6 Flavio Cobolli, the top seed, in the semifinal.
A whereabouts alarm set for 1am rang during the third set while Musetti was still playing. He asked ATP supervisor Rogério Santos for permission to use a phone to switch it off.
Lorenzo Musetti beat Luca Van Assche 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 in the quarterfinal of the Grand Prix Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, an ATP 250 event on indoor hard courts in Lyon with a purse of 757,320 euros. The match ran for more than three and a half hours and finished after 1am. Both players struggled to hold serve early on, and each saved several break points before the first tie-break. Musetti won the opening set on a tie-break, while Van Assche took the second on a tie-break after Musetti had a match point wiped out. In the decider Musetti fell 0-40 down on Van Assche's serve, then broke back to close out the match.
Some of the most unusual moments came during the third set. Musetti had set a reminder for 1am, the daily whereabouts slot that players must declare so anti-doping testers can find them for unannounced sample collection. Because the match was still going at that hour, he asked ATP supervisor Rogério Santos for permission to use a phone to silence the alarm and change his whereabouts entry. The request came while Musetti was leading 3-2 in the third set. He told the officials that he had set his anti-doping alert for 1am, a time he had not expected to be on court.
“I had set my anti-doping alert for 1am.”
Musetti, the sixth seed, now faces top seed Flavio Cobolli, world No. 6, who came back to beat Brandon Nakashima in his own quarterfinal. Repubblica counts the win as Musetti's 200th tournament victory on the ATP Tour. Speaking after the match, Musetti said it was not easy and that both players had shown their love for the sport.
“It was not easy. It was a great match, both of us showed our love for this sport.”
He added that the match ended late and was physically draining, but said he was very happy and proud of the result. In the other semifinal, the Americans Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul will meet, so an Italian is certain to reach the final.
Rai describes the match as part of Musetti's return from a hand injury, with the wrist put under sustained strain across three hours. Both players needed the physiotherapist during the third set, and Musetti appeared more solid, especially with his first serve, as the set moved toward its close. Repubblica counts the Cobolli and Musetti semifinal as the 16th all-Italian semifinal on the ATP tour in the Open era. The first of those was played in Florence in 1973, when Adriano Panatta beat Paolo Bertolucci. The result means Italy will have a finalist at the Lyon event.
Pollar is free and carries no ads in the text. Its members keep it going.
Support PollarTennis · Lyon
Lorenzo Musetti beat Luca Van Assche 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 in a match of more than three and a half hours that finished after 1am, and will meet top seed Flavio Cobolli in the Lyon semifinal.
AI text based on reports by La Repubblica.it, Fanpage, Rai news and other publishers. Published .