Lorenzo Musetti continues to announce himself on the ATP Tour.
Last year he did it at the Masters 1000 level (third round of Rome as a qualifier) and at a 250 (Sardinia semifinals). This year his current run is coming at a 500-point tournament.
Musetti booked a spot in the quarterfinals of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel with a second consecutive marathon victory, this one over Frances Tiafoe on Wednesday night. Following his first-ever top-10 win over Diego Schwartzman (6-3, 2-6, 6-4), the 19-year-old took down Tiafoe 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(1) after two hours and 44 minutes.
“I have no words, really,” Musetti said in his on-court interview. “Today I think was even tougher than yesterday. He played (the) first set incredible; I was still in the bed. He started so [well]. After (that) I played with heart, with everything that I could. I’m really proud of myself, with what I did.
“It was really tough; he’s unbelievable. We are close friends, as you could see at the handshake; big hug with him. It was an incredible night, an incredible match. I have a lot of adrenaline; I’m not going to sleep.”
After splitting the first two sets with Tiafoe, Musetti fell behind 3-0 in the third. He soon broke back for 2-3 before eventually serving to stay in the match at 4-5, which he did easily with a hold to love. The world No. 120 proceeded to break for 6-5 but promptly failed to serve it out. One final momentum swing was to be had in the ensuing tiebreaker, with Musetti surging to a 6-0 lead before capitalizing on his second match point at 6-1.
The joy of victory and agony of defeat was evident, with Musetti collapsed on the ground in triumph as Tiafoe obliterated his racket.
Next up for Musetti is Grigor Dimitrov, who finished runner-up to Rafael Nadal last year in Acapulco. Dimitrov advanced with a 6-4, 6-2 rout of Miomir Kecmanovic.
Other winners on Wednesday were Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Casper Ruud, Cameron Norrie, and Dominik Koepfer.
Tsitsipas and Auger-Aliassime earned easy straight-set wins over John Isner and Sebastian Korda, respectively. They will go head-to-head in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
another nice one, Musetti