The Italian, in his first final, beat the Spaniard in Hamburg, who saved five match points in the second set
MADRID, 24 (EUROPA PRESS)
The Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz gave in (6-4, 6-7(6), 6-4) against the Italian Lorenzo Musetti in a fast-paced final of the tournament in Hamburg (Germany), in the ATP 500 category and held on clay, despite save five match points in the second set and squeeze a rookie in these fights in search of his fifth title in 2022.
The pupil of Juan Carlos Ferrero had to pull epic to avoid the biggest surprise of the Italian, who was playing his first ATP final, without avoiding defeat in the third set. Alcaraz failed too much in the important moments and Musetti did not hesitate or feel the pressure, in the first lost final of the Murcian after five wins.
The winning aroma did not appear this time and Alcaraz was unable to leave behind the apprenticeship, without the expected result, that he suffered at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Thus, after his ambitious and ‘big’ dream truncated in Paris and London, in Hamburg he was left with honey on his lips, despite the fact that he left great performances this week.
The world number 62 went into the final in tune and marked the intensity of the match against an Alcaraz who was limping at the start and who suffered from discomfort to give up his serve in the first game. However, the Spaniard immediately recovered to return the ‘break’ thanks to his power at the back of the court.
The Italian held on and showed good openings on serve, while Alcaraz’s errors condemned him on serve to give up his turn twice more. Thus, Musetti broke down the essence of the Spaniard and dominated the first quarter to get ahead on the scoreboard (6-3).
The match script was repeated in the second round. The one from El Palmar, without finding solutions to the Italian’s combination game and shaped by his confidence, woke up at the decisive moment to break the impeccable serve, which allowed him to believe in the comeback by saving two championship balls.
The suffering was again total in the ‘tie-break’ and Musetti blamed inexperience for wasting, again, up to five match points. In this way, a superlative Alcaraz revived to tie the match 6-7(6) and force the third round.
Again both held on, but Musetti was insurmountable and managed to overcome Alcaraz in the last game (6-4). Thus, the 20-year-old Italian took the title and debuted his record in the German city of Hamburg. Despite the defeat, the Murcian will enter the ‘Top 5’ of the ATP ranking this Monday.
In addition, on Sunday he crowned Norwegian Casper Ruud in Gstaad (Switzerland), his third title of the season, beating Italian Matteo Berrettini (4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2) in another exciting final. Ruud, a finalist at Roland Garros, added the ninth trophy to his record, defending last year’s title on Swiss soil.