Lorenzo Musetti survived a spirited comeback from Jordan Thompson to reach the final of the clinch Championships.
The 22-year-old proved that world number one Jannik Sinner is not the only Italian to be feared at Wimbledon with a 6-3 3-6 6-3 victory in two hours and 18 minutes.
Thompson defied a back injury which required regular treatment at the changeovers to battle from a set down to take the match to a decider.
But Musetti grabbed the decisive break when the Australian’s volley landed a millimetre out, and bravely held serve to love before collapsing in delight.
We have our 1st finalist 💪
Lorenzo Musetti reaches his 1st @atptour final on grass at the #cinchChampionships pic.twitter.com/cFSMhF5bRX
— cinch Championships (@QueensTennis) June 22, 2024
“That was definitely one of the toughest matches of this week. Jordan was playing at an amazing level, especially in the second and third set,” he said.
“At 4-3 I played some amazing shots which gave me the break and I didn’t shake, even under pressure. It was key for me to hold serve at the end and I’m really proud of what I’ve achieved this week.
“I love this sport, I’m really passionate about it and since I was a kid I dreamt to be number one in the world.
“It would be super nice to win here in Queen’s with so much history. There are a lot of Italians here in London, I really feel like I’m at home.”
Musetti will face Tommy Paul, who won the all-American battle with Sebastian Korda 6-4 7-6 (2).
Your 2024 #cinchChampionships finalists
Lorenzo Musetti ⚔️ Tommy Paul pic.twitter.com/numviEvQ7w
— cinch Championships (@QueensTennis) June 22, 2024
Korda suffered a nasty fall on the baseline towards the end of the first set and had his ankle heavily strapped at the changeover.
The 23-year-old recovered sufficiently to hit back from a break down in the second, but Paul proved too strong in the tie-break to become the first man from the United States to reach the final since 2010, when Sam Querrey beat fellow American Mardy Fish.
World number 13 Paul, a runner-up at Eastbourne last year, said: “I’m happy with how I’m playing. I feel like every time I step on the grass I’m learning something and getting a little better.
“He played an awesome game, he put a lot of pressure on me. I’d rather play him in the semi-final than the first round.”
Britain’s Neal Skupski will feature in the doubles final alongside New Zealander Michael Venus.
The duo beat fourth seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek 7-6 (6) 6-4 and will meet scratch pairing Karen Khachanov and Taylor Fritz on Sunday evening.
Sinner, meanwhile, reached the final in Halle with a 6-4 7-6 (3) win over China’s Zhang Zhizhen.
He will face Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, who knocked out German second seed Alexander Zverev 7-6 (2) 6-4.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here