Title favourite Musetti impresses in Next Gen Finals opener

Italian Lorenzo Musetti, the title favourite and most experienced player in the Next Gen Finals field, made an impressive start to his campaign as he beat Chun-Hsin Tseng of Taiwan in Milan on Tuesday.

In front of a loud, partisan home crowd, the world No 23 broke early in the first set and never looked back as he won his Red Group opener 4-2, 4-2, 4-2.

“The crowd here is really amazing and I think that gave me extra help on court,” he said. “A good start, a good win against a tough opponent so I’m pretty happy about the win.”

Having made his debut in the 21 and under event in 2021, Musetti has enjoyed a superb year, winning his first two ATP Tour titles in Hamburg (where he beat Carlos Alcaraz in the final) and in Naples (where he saw off Matteo Berrettini.

Tseng has risen from well outside the world’s top 200 at the start of the year to his a high mark of No 83, just seven spots below his current ranking of No 90.

But Musetti showed his greater experience and his high level of confidence as he cruised to victory, matching the win by Jiri Lehecka in the first match of the competition earlier on Tuesday.

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