Marvellous Musetti marches on in Monte-Carlo, round of 16 set for Thursday
The Canadian crashed out of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters as the seeds keep falling
Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti reacts during his second round match against Canada’s Felix Auger Aliassime (AI/Reuters/Panoramic)
Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters | Draw | Order of play
The shocks keep coming at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters; sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime is the latest big name to crash out, losing to an inspired Lorenzo Musetti 6-2, 7-6 (2).
It was just the second Top 10 win of the Italian’s career, and he put on a striking display of shot-making in front of a noisy and partisan crowd, taking all three break points he created to seal a sensational win.
Auger-Aliassime was gracious in defeat, saying afterwards: “I should do better. Given my ambitions and what I want to achieve in the tournaments, I have to do better than today.
“But all the credit goes to Lorenzo. He played very well in the first set. He didn’t give away anything. I gave him things, though. In the second set he was brilliant on certain shots. That made a difference in the end of the match, so congratulations to him.”
Many of the seeds that did manage to progress to the Round of 16 had a very tough day; Musetti’s next opponent Diego Schwartzman looked as if he was about to trounce Marton Fucsovics after handing out a first-set bagel – but the second set went to a tiebreak, with the Argentinian winning 6-0, 7-6(4).
Andrey Rublev had a slow start against Alex de Minaur but eventually triumphed 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Alexander Zverev had a straightforward day, however, beating Federico Delbonis 6-1, 7-5.
Hubert Hurkacz needed three sets to beat Pedro Martinez, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, and tenth seed Taylor Fritz needed the same to get past a tricky Marin Cilic, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
Casper Ruud, seeded fourth, beat Holger Rune in straight sets, but both were difficult ones – 7-6(5), 7-5. Pablo Carreno Busta was in a third set with Alexander Bublik before the Kazakh retired from the match, giving him a walkover win, 4-6, 7-6(3), 4-3; and Jannik Sinner got past qualifier Emil Ruusuvuori 7-5, 6-3.
British singles hopes are already over, with new world No 10 Cameron Norrie beaten by Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, and Dan Evans losing in straight sets to David Goffin 7-6(5), 6-2. The Belgian will next face Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the conqueror of Novak Djokovic.
Lorenzo Sonego – seeded 16th – lost to Laslo Djere 6-4, 6-4, who has now set up a round of 16 clash with third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Round of 16 full draw
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