Young Musetti Continues His Impressive Run in Sardinia

Musetti Sardinia Sardegna Open
Lorenzo Musetti (photo: Alessandro Tocco/LaPresse)

WASHINGTON, October 16, 2020 (by Michael Dickens)

Italy’s 18-year-old rising star Lorenzo Musetti continues to amaze and impress in just his third ATP Tour-level main draw. This week, the 143rd-ranked Italian wild card has reached the quarterfinals of the Forte Village Sardegna Open in Santa Margherita di Pula, Italy – and he’s winning impressively.

On Thursday afternoon, Musetti, a native of Carrara, Italy, powered his way over Italian wild card Andrea Pellegrino, 6-2, 6-1, in one hour. He lost only 12 points on serve and converted four of five break-point opportunities against the 292nd-ranked Pellegrino.

Musetti has been outstanding on clay the during the past month. After reaching the third round in Rome with wins over both Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori, Musetti won his first ATP Challenger Tour title in Forli, Italy, where he defeated four Top 100 opponents in Frances Tiafoe, Andreas Seppi, Lloyd Harris and Thiago Monteiro.

After being ranked No. 363 in January, Musetti has improved his world ranking by more than 200 places. Next, he will face Yannick Hanfmann of Germany in Friday’s quarterfinal round.

The 101st-ranked Hanfmann upset No. 3 seed Casper Ruud, the highest remaining seed in a week filled with upsets, 6-2, 6-1. In other second round results: No. 4 seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain defeated No. 73 Corentin Moutet from France, 6-0, 6-3; and Italian wild card Marco Cecchinato, ranked No. 103, upset seventh seed Tommy Paul of the United States, 7-6 (1), 6-4.

Ramos-Vinolas will face Cecchinato in one of the quarterfinal matches on Friday. The other quarterfinal-round match-ups include: No. 67 Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic against No 74 Laslo Djere from Serbia, and lucky loser Danilo Petrovic of Serbia, ranked 166th, against No. 78 Federico Delbonis of Argentina.

New curfew raises questions for Paris Masters

This Saturday, a new curfew will take effect in Paris, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. While the French Ministry of Sport has given the green light to the Rolex Paris Masters to be held in Bercy, it is adamant that no spectators will be allowed out past the 9 p.m. curfew. So, a big question is this: What will the curfew mean for the daily 1,000 spectators who will be allowed to attend?

WTA cancels 125K December tournament in Limoges

The Open BLS de Limoges, a WTA 125K Series event scheduled for Dec. 14-20, has been cancelled accord to a news release tweeted by the event organizer on its Twitter platform Thursday. It said that upcoming Australian Open quarantine regulations made it prohibitive to host the tournament scheduled for mid-December this year. The tournament looks forward to returning in 2021.

Evert, USTA raise $5 million to aid underserved youth

What they’re saying

World No. 12 Denis Shapovalov, who has reached the quarterfinals of the St. Petersburg Open in Russia this week, was asked during his Thursday press conference to comment on the statement: “It seems like you don’t like boring tennis.” Shapovalov responded: “No, I don’t like boring tennis at all. I hate just standing behind and hitting the ball, on the contrary. I love advancing to the net. When I was younger, I loved watching Roger Federer’s matches. He also often advances to the net, so I mirrored him to some extent.”

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