#NextGenATP Musetti Fights Back To Reach Sardinia Semi-finals

Lorenzo Musetti is one victory away from reaching his first ATP Tour final at the Forte Village Sardegna Open after a second-set comeback on Friday at the ATP 250 tournament.

The Italian wild card showcased great maturity and shot variation to recover from 0-4 down in the second set of a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Yannick Hanfmann in 88 minutes. Musetti is the youngest ATP Tour semi-finalist since 18-year-old Jannik Sinner at the 2019 European Open in Antwerp.

Hanfmann, runner-up at the Generali Open last month (l. to Kecmanovic), had beaten Musetti 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of an ATP Challenger Tour event in Todi, Italy, in August.

The 18-year-old Musetti will next challenge Serbia’s Laslo Djere, who reached the 10th ATP Tour clay-court semi-final of his career with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic in 83 minutes.

Since beating Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori en route to the Internazionali BNL d'Italia third round in Rome last month, Musetti has gone on to capture his first ATP Challenger Tour title in Forli, where he overcame four Top 100 players: Frances Tiafoe, Andreas Seppi, Lloyd Harris and Thiago Monteiro. Having been No. 363 in the FedEx ATP Rankings on 20 January, Musetti is now up to a career-high No. 143.

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Fourth-seeded Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas takes on wild card Marco Cecchinato of Italy later today, while Serbian lucky loser Danilo Petrovic meets Federico Delbonis of Argentina.

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/353pkwL