Musetti cracks another milestone in Paris

On a warm, breezy afternoon inside Court Philippe-Chatrier, Frances Tiafoe untangled himself from the Italian’s web for a brief spell, but he was ultimately bamboozled down the stretch as the world No.7 raced past him to claim a four-set victory and a spot in his first Roland-Garros semi-final. 

Musetti improves to 19-3 on clay this year and sets a semi-final clash with either Carlos Alcaraz or Tommy Paul on Friday. 

Story of the match 

Soft hands. Court craft. A willingness to improvise, and well-timed bursts of explosive power. 

It was cat-and-mouse tennis at its finest for 90 minutes inside the world’s biggest clay court on Tuesday, with both Musetti and Tiafoe throwing the kitchen sink at one another as they fought the stiff breeze and turned the clay canvas into a geometry puzzle. 

Two and a half sets, and nothing had been decided. Musetti took the first set; Tiafoe, lifting his intensity and cleverly carving the ball into the corners, the second. 

And the tug-of-war continued. 

Two hours. Four-all in the third. Still nothing decided. 

It had the makings of a classic, but in the end Musetti’s all-court perfection and stunning consistency put an end to that. 

Tiafoe had his chances, in a nip-and-tuck third set, but he never could earn a break point. And when the tension mounted in the waning moments, he missed all five first deliveries while serving to force a tiebreak and was broken to 15. 

Musetti took the set, and the reins, from there. He reeled off five consecutive games, and eight of the final ten to win on the sprint. 

Playing in his first Grand Slam as a top 10 player, Musetti is living up to his ranking and then some. He is most comfortable on the red clay and his combination of creativity and consistency, combined with elite attacking power, place him among the top three or four clay courters in men’s tennis. 

And there’s the one-handed backhand: to die for. 

Today Musetti used every tool in the shed and won with guile and grit. And it didn’t hurt that he was buoyed by the deep reservoir of self-belief that he has built over the last year. Last summer he reached the Wimbledon semi-finals then claimed Olympic bronze on the Parisian clay. 

During the last couple of months in Europe, he reached the final in Monte-Carlo, then the semi-finals in Madrid and Rome. 

This week in Paris, he has taken another proper step – and the party's just getting started for this 23-year-old.

Key stats 

Musetti hit 44 winners against 32 unforced errors; Tiafoe hit 33 winners and 51 unforced errors. 

Musetti held in 16 of 17 service games and went unbroken in each of his last 13 service games. 

After his success over No.16-ranked Tiafoe, Musetti has claimed multiple ATP top 20 wins at a Grand Slam event for the first time in his career – the Italian defeated 10th-ranked Holger Rune in the fourth-round. 

Tiafoe was bidding for his maiden career ATP top 10 win on clay. With his loss to Musetti, he drops to 0-6 against the top 10 on the surface. 

Musetti improves to 27-5 on clay since July of last year, highlighted by earning a bronze at the Olympics. He has also become the fifth Italian man to contest multiple Grand Slam semi-finals in the Open era along with Jannik Sinner (5), Adriano Panatta (3), Matteo Berrettini (3) and Corrado Barazzutti (2).

What Musetti said: 

On finding a way through a tight contest with Tiafoe: “The third set was really a fight and it was not easy to make a break. Even if I was a little bit tired and it was really tough for me to stay there, I found the extra energy to win this set and definitely the last set was probably the best set of this match.” 

On what changed for him since last year: “I guess it’s a process of growing, not just on the court but especially off the court. Last year I became a father, and I think that gave me an extra responsibility, and I think now I approach things in a more professional way, not just on the court in the match, but in the daily routine. It’s really important for me to be in order when I practice and even in my free time.” 

On family inspiring him: “I enjoy my time with my family so much, even if they are not here they are always with me, inside my heart – this win is for them.” 

On being an elegant player: “We are Italian, we are elegant. No, jokes aside I think I have a little bit of a retro style, there are not so many players who play with a one-handed backhand. In modern days it's really tough on the return side. Everyone is serving really well so it’s not easy to manage, to defend with the one-handed backhand. 

“But when I first got my tennis racket, to me it was natural to play with a one-handed backhand and my coach never touched that shot. That was probably the key to my success.”