Alex Michelsen upsets Lorenzo Musetti in Toronto, seals victory on seventh MP

Match Report

Michelsen upsets Musetti in Toronto, seals victory on seventh MP

Khachanov defeats Nava at ATP Masters 1000 event

Andrew Eichenholz/ATP Tour Alex Michelsen defeats Lorenzo Musetti in three sets to record his second Top 10 win on Thursday in Toronto. By Sam Jacot

Alex Michelsen earned his second Top 10 win on Thursday at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers, where he upset World No. 6 Lorenzo Musetti 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 to reach the fourth round at an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time.

The 20-year-old American lost the first set and was being outplayed by the dynamic Italian for the first 90 minutes of action on Centre Court. However, Michelsen began to land bigger blows off the forehand wing to trouble Musetti, who also coughed up 16 unforced errors in the third set.

"I am a big guy, I have got to play offensive tennis," Michelsen said. "Especially today, you can't give a guy like Lorenzo time to bully you around from the baseline, so I was trying to bully him around and I think in the second and third sets I did a really good job. Taking shots early. I was missing a couple but you can't make them all and I was doing a really good job executing."

Michelsen squandered two match points on the Musetti serve at 3-5 and then blew a 40/0 lead on his own serve, with the Italian saving the final match point in that run with a scorching backhand winner. However, the World No. 34 stayed composed, saving two break points before sealing victory on his seventh match point.

With his two-hour, 32-minute win, Michelsen improved his Top 10 record to 2-6, having defeated the then-No. 9 player in the PIF ATP Rankings Alex de Minaur in Los Cabos last season. Into the fourth round, the 26th seed Michelsen will next meet #NextGenATP American Learner Tien or Reilly Opelka.

"The first time in the fourth round feels really good. I have put a lot of hard work in and it is finally starting to pay off a little bit. I was wondering when it would happen and I guess it is starting to happen right now," Michelsen said. "I returned really, really well today."

Musetti has earned more Masters 1000 wins than anyone else on Tour this year (17), highlighted by his final run in Monte-Carlo. The third-seeded Italian was not at his best against Michelsen, though, and has now lost three of his past four matches following his semi-final showing at Roland Garros, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.

Musetti is currently sixth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin and is aiming to make his debut on home soil at the Nitto ATP Finals in November. The 23-year-old will look to rediscover the winning formula in Cincinnati in August.

In other early action, Karen Khachanov downed American qualifier Emilio Nava 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-1 in the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting to reach the fourth round at a Masters 1000 event for the second time this year. The 29-year-old, who is 10-1 against players outside the Top 20 this season, will next face Casper Ruud or Nuno Borges.

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