Musetti overcomes slow start to beat Trungelliti in Umag

Second seed Lorenzo Musetti advanced to the quarter-finals of the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag Wednesday with a solid 6-4, 6-3 victory over Argentine Marco Trungelliti.

The Italian, No. 17 in the PIF ATP Rankings, rallied from an early 0-3 deficit in the opening set to claim the next five games and with it the momentum of the match, which he wrapped up in one hour and 51 minutes.

"First match on clay after a long grass season. It was not an easy start," Musetti said post-match. "Marco was playing good. I had my chances in the first game, I didn't break him and it was not easy to find the right balance.

"Then afterwards I think I raised my level. At the end I was serving better, playing more aggressive with the forehand, and that was probably the key of the match."

Musetti applied considerable pressure on Trungelliti’s serve, earning 11 break points and converting four, while saving two of the three break points on his own serve, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

The 22-year-old advanced to his first clay-court quarter-final since Hamburg 2023 and he will now play Serbian Dusan Lajovic.  

This was Musetti’s first match since achieving a career-best Grand Slam result by reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals, where he lost to seven-time champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets. He is chasing his first ATP Tour title since 2022 (Naples).

Jakub Mensik continued to press his claim to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF when he defeated Luciano Darderi 6-4, 6-3 in the last match on centre court.

The 18-year-old Czech, No. 81 in the PIF ATP Rankings, traded several breaks with the Italian in a tight opening set before closing it out and gaining the upper hand. Converting four of his five break point opportunities according to Infosys ATP Stats, Mensik’s clinical return game helped him power to victory in one hour and 27 minutes. He advances to the quarter­-finals, where he will face Tseng Chun-hsin.

He has become the youngest man since Felix Auger-Aliassime to reach tour level quarter-finals on all three surfaces, after reaching the last eight on hard courts in Doha, and grass courts in Mallorca.

Mensik currently sits third in the PIF ATP Race To Jeddah, behind Arthur Fils and Alex Michelsen.

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