Lorenzo Musetti continues to blossom on grass with first major quarterfinal at Wimbledon
The 22-year-old halted lucky loser Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in four sets on Monday.
Just over three years ago, Lorenzo Musetti made the round of 16 at Roland Garros on his Grand Slam main-draw debut—at one point even leading Novak Djokovic by two sets.
On Monday, the 22-year-old went a step further across the English Channel. Continuing to blossom on grass courts, Musetti reached his first major quarterfinal at Wimbledon by ending the run of lucky loser Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.
“I think you saw on court how I felt after the finish of the match,” Musetti expressed to press.
FLASHBACK: Musetti reaches final at the Queen's Club ⤵️
Having dropped serve midway through the first set, the No. 25 seed did not face another break point the rest of the way. Musetti was incredibly clean off the ground, generating just eight unforced errors to go with 23 winners.
After two hours and three minutes on No.2 Court, the Italian finished off Mpetshi Perricard for the second time on the surface this season. He fell to the ground in pure elation after joining countryman Jannik Sinner in the last eight.
“My coach told me before the game, ‘to break him you have to be Love-40, not 30-40, because he's going to probably do an ace or a first-serve winner.’ He was right,” said Musetti.
“When I had the chance in the break points that I had during the match, and the games where I broke him, I was always, like, two points in advance.”
Before this year, Musetti was 6-7 in tour-level matches on grass. He’s since produced 11 wins across three tournaments, building on a semifinal showing in Stuttgart with a runner-up effort at London Queen’s.
For a place in the final four of The Championships, the Carrara native awaits the winner of Roland Garros finalist Alexander Zverev or Taylor Fritz, who is on a seven-match win streak following his Eastbourne triumph.