Changed Musetti survives tough start to reach French Open fourth round
PARIS :Now with a clear idea of what his task on court is, Italian craftsman Lorenzo Musetti overcame a sluggish start to qualify for the fourth round of the French Open with a 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-2 victory against Argentine Mariano Navone on Friday.
Full of confidence after reaching at least the semi-finals in all three Masters events on clay this season, eighth seed Musetti was caught off guard by his opponent early on before finding his groove on a sunkissed Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Musetti will next face either France's Quentin Halys or Dane Holger Rune.
"Today it felt completely different in terms of conditions from the last two matches, the ball was bouncing not that high (before) and today at the beginning I was a bit surprised," said Musetti.
"Then I started feeling better on court and improved my game."
Musetti has broken into the top 10, a feat he attributes to a change in his attitude.
"I put some order in my tennis chaos. My game is varied, so it's not easy for me to make a decision. The click is now I know what to do on court. I grew up in the attitude and the mental side. A match like this a few years ago I don't know if I would have come back," he said.
Musetti is part of Italy's golden generation that also features world number one Jannik Sinner and last year's French Open runner-up Jasmine Paolini.
"It has to be pasta or pizza... Jokes aside, we have a bit of luck because we live the best years of our tennis, men and women, being part of this group last year was amazing; we won the Billie Jean King Cup and the Davis Cup. This emotion will live forever in our hearts," he said.
Navone's powerful baseline play put the Italian on the back foot in the opening set and the Argentinian broke in the first game.
Musetti broke back for 3-3, only to drop serve in the next game as his usually brilliant forehand let him down.
But Navone gradually ran out of gas, allowing his opponent to step into the court more easily and Musetti did not need much more to turn things around and race to victory.
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