The more pragmatic Alcaraz defeats an inconsistent Musetti and reaches the final in Rome

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No one said it was going to be a bed of roses, but Carlos Alcaraz is already a finalist in the Rome ATP. The young player from Murcia achieves this after defeating a very unstable Lorenzo Musetti throughout the match, partly due to the pressure of being on the verge of the final in his own country. Alcaraz knew how to play the crucial moments of the match as a champion should, and despite it being a less impressive duel than expected, he made fewer errors than his opponent and secured victory with a 6-3, 7-6(4) score. This puts him in the grand final, where he will fight for his seventh Masters 1000 title at just 22 years old.

Possibly, few places in the world were more suitable than the ‘Campo Centrale’ at the Foro Italico in Rome to hold such a significant semifinal. 3:30 in the afternoon, sunny weather, and packed stands. It was the perfect setting for a showdown between two of the best players of the moment: Carlos Alcaraz and Lorenzo Musetti.

For the Spanish player, the match represented a great opportunity to reach the final in Rome, although for the first time in a long while, he would do so with the majority of the crowd against him, as a preview of what he could face in a potential final against Sinner. Perhaps this was an extra incentive to step onto the court with more motivation, a little more fuel to his inner fire, the one that sometimes flares up in the middle of a match. He broke the Italian's serve in the first game of the match, clearly showing his intentions.

Alcaraz made fewer mistakes

But he was also aware that the crowd would play an important role because every point that went in favor of Musetti was cheered like a goal. That's why he gritted his teeth when he saved three break points in the following game. 2-0, but calm down, this was just the beginning.

Nevertheless, the player from Murcia started to loosen up, and his forehand started to cause a lot of damage, as it has done throughout the tournament, especially against the one-handed backhand of the Italian. Meanwhile, the nerves of being so close to a final in his own country condemned a visibly more tense and error-prone Musetti than usual.

Alcaraz broke again, but it was at that moment when the Italian woke up from his slumber, launched an attack, and recovered one of the breaks to put up a fight in a first set that would already go Alcaraz's way. Nevertheless, the player from El Palmar remained calm, accepted the Italian's resurgence, and continued playing his tennis, very solid from the baseline and avoiding any kind of disconnection that could have allowed Musetti to get back into the match.

"Go for more, handle the moment!", Ferrero told his pupil. And that's what Alcaraz did, not even waiting for his serve to close out a very serious first set on his part and very inconsistent on the part of the Italian (6-3). It wasn't the prettiest or most complete set from the world number three, but he succeeded in making fewer mistakes than his opponent to edge closer to the grand final.

If we said that Alcaraz had not experienced any disconnection, the first one came at the beginning of the second set. For the first time in the match, Musetti took the lead after breaking the service of the player from Murcia, but his joy was short-lived. "Let's go!", shouted the Spanish player upon breaking back, making himself heard in a dull atmosphere after witnessing his player miss another golden opportunity. "You are superior to him!", Ferrero reminded him. However, the afternoon was full of errors on both sides of the court, and Musetti broke again.

The fear of losing weighed more than the desire to win for both players, as they were unable to string together two consecutive games. Finally, the Italian managed it, and the crowd came alive again. It seemed like everything would be decided in a decisive third set, but Musetti failed to finish off Alcaraz, who then recovered the break to even the score at 4-4.

The Italian's downturn seemed definitive, and the Spanish player had a match point, but Musetti clung to the court and extended the second set to a tiebreak. Yet it was in the tiebreak where the player from Murcia dealt the final blow in a less than stylish match with many errors, but one in which Alcaraz had the composure and maturity to come through a very tangled battle (6-3, 7-6(4)). This way, he enters the final in Rome for the first time, and fans eagerly anticipate the possibility of witnessing another Alcaraz-Sinner showdown.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, El Alcaraz más pragmático vence a un irregular Musetti y se mete en la final de Roma