Lorenzo Musetti outlives O’Connell to join CF in Chengdu | ATP Tour

Chengdu

Musetti survives O’Connell to reach CF in Chengdu

Bublik stopped Gomez’s progress

September 21, 2024

Lorenzo Musetti overcame a tough battle against Christopher O’Connell 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(4) on Saturday to reach the quarter-finals at the Chengdu Open.

The top seed fought back from 5-3 down in the final set to take his career-best record of wins in a single season to 35 and make his seventh ATP Tour quarter-final appearance this year. The 22-year-old Italian hit 33 winners, according to Infosys ATP statistics, in the two hours and 37 minutes of the match.

“It was a difficult match,” Musetti said after the match. “He served with good intentions and precision, I didn’t find many break points. But in the end I was focused, I played the right tactics and I knew how to play well throughout the match.”

The Italian will face fifth seed Adrian Mannarino in the quarter-finals. The Frenchman also had to endure a nail-biting match to advance in Chengdu, beating local hope Yi Zhou 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-4.

Mannarino came back from 1-3, 0/40 down in the third set to defeat the 19-year-old Chinese wild card and reach the quarterfinals for the second time this season (also in Dallas). The No. 46 in the PIF ATP Rankings saved eight of the 12 break point opportunities he conceded.

After two hours and 45 minutes, the 36-year-old Frenchman became the oldest quarter-finalist in the history of the tournament.

“There were very hot conditions, I felt tired in the match and it was not easy because I could see that he [Zhou] “It was very fresh,” Mannarino acknowledged in the trackside interview.

The Frenchman defeated Musetti in the only Lexus ATP Head2Head duel between the two at Indian Wells 2023.

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Second seed Alexander Bublik ended Federico Agustín Gómez’s adventure in Chengdu by winning 6-4, 6-4.

The Kazakh, who hit 25 winners, ended the path of the Argentine who came from the qualifiers and who had achieved the first ATP Tour victory of his career in the opening round.

Bublik will seek the semi-finals of Chengdu, a tournament in which he was a finalist in 2019, against #NextGenATP Juncheng Shang who beat Roman Safiullin 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 in two hours and 18 minutes.

The other two quarter-final matches, which were set up this Friday, will feature Nicolás Jarry against Alibek Kachmazov and Pedro Martínez against Yannick Hanfmann.