MELBOURNE, Australia – Lorenzo Musetti reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the first time with a 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 victory over No. 9 Taylor Fritz.
Fifth-placed Musetti has had a disruptive run, with one of his coaches and a physio having to return to Italy for personal reasons. He also had to leave his family after the birth of his second son in November.
“I feel more mature on the field. I play better for that, and for them,” he said. “I didn’t sleep much during the offseason. But we found a way to work and practice really well, both on and off the field.
“Now I have been alone for more than twenty days and it is not easy, but I feel their presence here too.”
Meanwhile, 2024 US Open runner-up Fritz revealed at a post-match press conference that he had arrived in Melbourne with doubts about his fitness and almost withdrawn due to knee and abdominal problems.
“I was completely ready to shut it down for a few months to make it better,” Fritz said, adding that he told his team, “If it stays the way it is, we’re just going to have to stop. I can’t play this out.”
He said his physiotherapist told him there was a “fairly good chance” he could recover from the injuries while continuing to play. However, after feeling uncomfortable in his third round victory over 40-year-old Stan Wawrinka, a much sterner test against Musetti proved too much.
Despite feeling “very good” during his warm-up, even though his torso was heavily strapped to help his obliques, Fritz said painkillers failed to bridge the gap.
‘I thought they might intervene. “It didn’t help anything,” he said. “A lot of my mistakes came from pulling up and not feeling like I was loading my knee hard enough.”
Fritz said he wasn’t really thinking about withdrawing from the match and that he hopes he can play the tournament in Dallas, but will have to wait and see how his body recovers.
Musetti’s next mission is against a rested Novak Djokovic. The 24-time major winner was scheduled to play Monday’s match at Rod Laver Arena but was given a walkover to the quarter-finals after his opponent Jakub Mensik withdrew from the scheduled fourth-round match due to an abdominal injury.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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