Lorenzo Musetti, winning marathon with Machac: "I was prepared for the fight"

Lorenzo Musetti gives himself the Australian Open round of 16 for the first time in his career. The world and seeded number five overcame Tomas Machac, number 24 in the world rankings, in five sets with a final score of 5-7 6-4 6-2 5-7 6-2 after a battle of nearly four and a half hours of play. The Carrarino thus becomes the third Italian in the Open era to have reached the round of 16 at least once in all four Grand Slam tournaments after Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini.

Musetti saw a grueling first set slip away, lasting one’hour and twenty minutes, in which he squandered so many break points (he converted only one of the eleven conceded by his opponent) and had to struggle with his serve, with only 43% first serve. “In the first set at one point I was serving like my mother (I love you, Mom…) – joked the Azure in the on-court interview at the end of the match – but I managed to find my movement again, not to rush, also thanks to a higher ball throw”.

The fifth seed on the scoreboard, down 4-2 in the second set, however, did not lose heart: four games in a row to put the match back on an even keel and an authoritative 6-2 in the third set. When the momentum seemed to be on the Tuscan&#8217s side, Machac reopened the match by taking the fourth set in a sprint (7-5). In the fifth and decisive set, however, Musetti immediately put a break between himself and his opponent by repeating it in the seventh game before closing on serve in the final 6-2.

“I was prepared to fight until the end, we knew we were in for a very hot day – added the Carrara native -. At the beginning I couldn&#8217t find rhythm in the exchange, I was far from the court. But I kept a very good mentality and thanks to a great physical condition I was able to turn the match”.

“With the roof at the end it was much better, but we had already been playing for four hours. We both managed to keep a very high level of athleticism, Tomas moves very well, I found a way to beat him and that is the most important thing” concluded Musetti.