Australian Open: Lorenzo Musetti vs. Lorenzo Sonego, background.
By a curious interlock of the scoreboard, the second round immediately features the all-Italian derby between Lorenzo Musetti and Lorenzo Sonego. It will be their first confrontation in a Slam tournament, with the five-set formula, between two national teammates who also share Davis Cup experience and who have been thrilling the Italian tennis audience in recent years. A hard-fought challenge, full of intensity and spectacle, looms.
Lorenzo Musetti, fifth seed, arrives at the appointment on the strength of an extremely convincing 2025, a season that allowed him to reach the best ranking of his career: number five in the world at the beginning of 2026. A position that could further improve should he go a long way in the first Slam of the year. The Carrara-based tennis player ended 2025 with prestigious results – final in Monte Carlo, semifinal at Roland Garros, and quarterfinals at the US Open – crowning the year with his first ATP Finals qualification. A goal that seemed to have faded after the Paris loss to Sonego of all people, but made possible by Djokovic’s withdrawal.
The start of 2026 saw Musetti halted in the final at the Hong Kong ATP 250, defeated by the extroverted Aleksandr Bublik, the seventh final lost in his career. At the Australian Open, where he comes in with Spaniard José Perlas joining the coaching staff in the role of super coach, the Italian overcame Belgian Collignon in the first round, retiring in the fourth set with Musetti ahead two sets to one.
Lorenzo Sonego, currently ranked No. 40, can boast a best ranking of 21 reached in October 2021. With Italy led by Filippo Volandri, he won the Davis Cup in 2023 and 2025. After beginnings in the Futures circuit and his first Challenger success in Ortisei in 2017, the Turin native hit his first ATP title in 2019 in Antalya. 2021 remains the best year of his career, with the Cagliari title, a semifinal at the Internazionali d’Italia, and entry into the world’s top 25.
Sonego’s 2026 began in Hong Kong, where he was eliminated in the round of 16 by China’s Shang, then ranked No. 318. In his Australian Open debut, however, he settled Spain’s Taberner in three sets. Now, for a place in the third round, a challenge against his friend Musetti awaits him.
The one scheduled for Thursday, January 22, in Melbourne will be the third official confrontation between the two. The balance is perfectly even: Musetti won in Vienna in 2024 (6-3 6-2), while Sonego prevailed in Paris in 2025 with a score of 3-6 6-3 6-1.
