ATP Monte Carlo, Musetti beats Tsitsipas and flies to the semifinals: now De Minaur

Monte Carlo, April 11, 2025 - Lorenzo musetti rewrites his personal history. Finally, his first semifinal in a thousand tournament has arrived. A talent like his could not wait any longer. The scalp is illustrious, namely the outgoing champion Stefanos Tsitsipas, defeated in a comeback and in three sets in the quarter-finals of Monte Carlo by 1-6 6-3 6-4. After a bad first set, the turning point came in the second, especially in the game in which musetti he saved three consecutive break points that could have condemned him. From there, Lorenzo's tennis became quality and left no escape for the Greek. Now there will be the Australian Alex De Minaur.

The match and the comeback

Initial attack tactic of the Greek who often goes serve and volley to punish the backward positioning of musetti, while the Italian is immediately too faulty and concedes two break points in the second game. It is precisely with an imprudent backhand that the immediate 2-0 arrives for Tsitsipas, who then does not hesitate and consolidates the break for the first escape at 3-0. Musetti also needs the intervention of the physiotherapist for a foot problem and in the next game he concedes another break point by firing a forehand into the corridor. In a fighting game, with four break points cancelled, musetti manages to close the gap on 3-1 and prolong the set. The Greek, obviously, sets up the game by focusing on his best shot, the forehand, and uses his aggression to take as much of the net as possible and in fact the first set doesn't last long because the gap becomes first 5-1, with the second break, and then with the closing on 6-1 after 41 minutes using the proverbial service and forehand scheme. In the second set musetti He needs to vary his patterns, get closer to the baseline, be more aggressive and avoid that Tsitsipas uses his forehand to gain ground. The serves follow, even if the Greek cancels two break points in the second game and musetti he cancels three in the third (it's the turning point), so the joy for the Italian comes immediately after with the forehand passing shot that catches Tsitsipas' volley at fault: 3-1. It doesn't last long, because Musetti throws away a game where he was ahead 30-0 and allows the Greek to recover the break, but there is an immediate reaction of pride with two fabulous points in the fifth game, especially the defensive backhand passing shot that is worth 4-2. Having changed tactics with purpose, the Italian doesn't look back and concretizes the second set without particular problems for 6-3. The third is a battle, at 2-1 for Tsitsipas there are four break points that musetti manages to save, then with a backhand down the line the Italian ties the score. The match becomes a test of strength from the baseline with excellent forehands and backhands, but neither of the two gains the upper hand until three all, when musetti he earns a break point and receives a gift, with the Greek's double fault, to go up 4-3 and serve, which shortly after becomes 5-3 with a partial of 12 points to 3. Tsitsipas risks drifting and goes 0-30 down in the next game, but recovers and extends the match to 5-4. The decisive game is however well played by musetti, who is solid on serve, even more so on the forehand and gets his first 1000 semifinal of his career thanks to the final error of the Greek. He took the scalp of the defending champion, between the happiness of his corner and the emotion of his partner Veronica. In the semifinal there will be Alex De Minaur who defeated Grigor Dimitrov.