The Musetti that we like reappears, resurfaces. He does it in Miami after a year and a half or so of opacity and discontent, defeats and pessimism, beating the number 17 in the world, and number 16 seed of the tournament, Ben Shelton in the third round 6-4 7-6. In short, the Ludovico effect – Lorenzo's son, born about ten days ago – seems confirmed after his winning debut against Safiullin.
Not since the Chengdu tournament last September has Lorenzo won two matches in a row, he did it in Florida by beating two top 40 players, recovering the edge of his thrilling tennis but above all the attitude of a true player, capable of coming back from 1 -4 in the second set, not to be discouraged after the five break points wasted in Shelton's last two rounds of serve, and to clearly close one of his best matches in quite some time now.
Shelton, 21 years old, seven months younger than Muso, is an on-off player – and not only because the first half of the definition is also the name of his clothing sponsor (of which Federer is a shareholder) – in the first set he took of his making the wrong mistake, often drawing a bitter smile from dad Bryan in the stands; but in the second he pulled out stunning serves and even sensational left-handed plays, and seemed capable of steering the match towards the third set.
Well done, very good Lorenzo at stopping him, with tenacity, heart, and above all head. And to some delight of his, you see a running backhand passer – brrrrr .. – deposited with a fairy hand in the only tissue of space available.
In the end 37 gratuitous errors for the American, only 15 for Lorenzo. The reward for father Musetti comes in the form of a round of 16 final to be played tonight as the third match (not before 8.30pm, live on Sky Sport) against Carlos Alcaraz, the number two in the world who got rid of easily (6- 2 6-4) by the old playmaker Gael Monfils.
Carlitos is leading 3-1 in the previous matches, but Musetti's sensational victory in the Hamburg 2022 final remains in the spotlight.
There are actually three Italians in the round of 16 in Miami, and if it weren't for the fact that we are now used to starred menus we would also have to toast: it is the first time this has happened on hard courts in a Masters 1000 since the category was born (1990) .
The other two are Jannik Sinner, who also returns to the field today for the third match (around 7pm, if everything goes according to forecast) against the Australian O' Connell, number 66 ATP; and Matteo Arnaldi, who faces the treacherous (tennis speaking) Machac, number 60, in the opening match on the Grandstand.
Today's program (live TV on Sky Sport)
Central (from 5pm): Koepfer-Medvedev. Not before 7pm: Azarenka-Putintseva. Not before 8.30: Alcaraz-Musetti; Sakkari-Rybakina, Zverev-Khachanov
Grandstand (from 4pm) Machac-Arnaldi, Ruud-Jarry, O'Connell-Sinner. Not before 8.30pm: Dimitrov-Hurkacz, De Minaur-Maroszan
#Miami #turns #blue #Musetti #thrills #Shelton #challenges #Alcaraz #tonight #Sinner #Arnaldi #pitch #4pm
