The Italian Lorenzo Musetti defeated against all odds the Australian Alex de Miñaur, who had just won the s’Hertogenbosch tournament, in the first round of Queen’s by 1-6, 6-4 and 6-2. Musetti had just made the semifinals in Stuttgart, where he fell to the 2021 Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berretini and extended his good moment on grass by beating De Miñaur, sixth best tennis player of the year.
After a bad first set by Musetti, the Italian balanced the match and took advantage in the third set of a very flawed De Minaur and his impeccable game, since in the third set he did not commit a single unforced error. The Italian thus breaks a streak of twelve consecutive matches lost against members of the ‘top ten’ and eliminates the second seed from Queen’s and the finalist last year, a De Minaur who is now thinking about Wimbledon.
The transalpine will face Dan Evans or Brandon Nakashima in the second round. He will not be the only Italian in the next stage of Queen’s after Matteo Arnaldi, in his first grass match of the season, defeated Ugo Humbert (3-6, 6-1 and 7-6 (6) saving a point from match along the way. In addition, Taylor Fritz easily defeated Taro Daniel (6-3 and 6-3), who had just passed the qualifying phase.
The Spanish Alejandro Davidovich failed to advance to the phase at Queen’s, where he lost to the Chilean Alejandro Tabilo 7-6 (8-6), 3-6 and 6-1. The match resumed after being suspended last Monday due to how slippery the court was when the Chilean was 2-0 up in the third set. Thus, in less than half an hour, Tabilo finished the job, leaving Davidovich without victories on grass two weeks before Wimbledon.
2024-06-18 14:02:29
#Musetti #bell #ante #Miñaur
