A semifinal earned the hard way
Lorenzo Musetti needed two hours and 29 minutes and a serious reset in the third set, but the Italian is into the last four of the Stockholm Open. The third seed beat Ugo Humbert 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4 in Thursday evening’s quarterfinal, after the Frenchman had levelled the match and then broken early in the decider.
The numbers explain why it dragged on. Neither man gave much away on serve for long periods, and the first set had to be settled in a tiebreak that Musetti edged 7-5. Humbert, ranked 39th, answered by taking the second set 6-3 and moved ahead in the third. Musetti clawed the break back and took the set 6-4.
“It was a really tough match. We both served pretty well,” Musetti said afterwards, pointing to how he responded after dropping the second set and going a break down as the key.
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Indoor form that keeps building
The win lifts Musetti to 10-2 on indoor hard courts this season, a record built over a strong autumn. He won the title in Lyon last month and then knocked out world No 1 Alexander Zverev in the third round of the Paris Masters.
He is also the first Italian to reach the semifinals of the Swedish ATP 250 since Fabio Fognini did it in 2018.
For Humbert, it ends a week in which he had looked sharp on serve, only for the match to slip away late in the third set.
Fritz waiting after Rune’s withdrawal
Musetti’s reward is a meeting with top seed Taylor Fritz, who reached the semis without hitting a ball. Former Stockholm champion Holger Rune pulled out of their quarterfinal with a right leg injury.
Fritz, ranked No 10, is now into his seventh tour-level semifinal of the season and his third in the past four weeks.
The other semifinal pits fourth seed Alejandro Tabilo against Thiago Agustin Tirante. Tabilo saved six of the seven break points he faced in a 7-5, 7-6(2) win over Alex Michelsen, while Tirante needed three sets to get past qualifier Aleksandr Shevchenko, 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 6-3. Tabilo is only the second Chilean to reach the last four in Stockholm, after Marcelo Rios in 2002.
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