(Paris) The Italian Lorenzo Musetti (62e World Championship) won his first tournament in Hamburg by brilliantly overcoming Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz (6e) in three sets 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 6-4 on Sunday.
Posted at 12:54 p.m.
After missing five title shots in the second set, Musetti (20) had to wait almost three hours (2:46) before creating a surprise for his first final on the circuit. Thanks to this coronation in the ATP 500 category, he will gain more than twenty places in the ATP ranking on Monday.
Alcaraz, even younger (19 years old) but much more experienced with five victories in five finals played before this game, will be able to console himself by becoming the youngest player to access the le top 5 world since Rafael Nadal in 2005.
“I tried to forget those match points but I knew I could do it,” the Carrara native revealed. The key to the match was staying calm and patient. I went through different feelings but here I am dreaming. »
Thanks to his lift and his very offensive game, Musetti controlled the exchange most of the time, preventing the native of El Palmar from installing his powerful game.
The one-handed backhand Italian was clinical in the first set and converted the two break points he got before pocketing the set at his first opportunity.
Musetti used amortizations and variations to rush Juan Carlos Ferrero’s protege, who struggled to rely on his opponent’s ball.
However, this undermining work was not enough to finish off the Spaniard, who saved two first match points at 5-4 and then three more in the decisive game of the second act before equalizing at one set everywhere.
In a spectacular last set, Musetti managed to resist the burst of Alcaraz to win his first title and equalize the game of direct confrontations, two years after a defeat against the Murcian during the Challenger tournament in Trieste.