Lorenzo Musetti rides hot form into Umag final vs. Cerundolo | ATP Tour

In Saturday’s final the World No. 16 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings will face Argentine Francisco Cerundolo, who upset top seed Andrey Rublev 7-6(6), 6-4.

“Jakub is a really great player, I saw a lot of myself when I was in his position, making the first results in the ATP Tour,” said Musetti, who has won 15 of his past 18 matches. “He was playing really great tennis but I think tonight I played at my best level and it was a convincing game from my side.

“Of course it is a positive period for me, but I try not to forget what there is behind it. There have been so many up and downs in my career; in the last three years a lot of things changed in my life. Whenever you don’t expect something, it happens, so you have to be ready to take the chances and I think I’m taking all the chances that life and tennis is giving me.”

Musetti has dropped just three matches dating back to the start of the grass season. He is chasing his third title and first since defeating Carlos Alcaraz in the Hamburg final in 2022.

Cerundolo saved five of six break points faced against Rublev to advance to his fifth tour-level final. He seeks his first title since winning Eastbourne more than a year ago. He improved to 9-11 against Top 10 players. 

“I’m super happy of course, Andrey’s an incredible player, Top 10,” Cerundolo said.

“I’ve been loving this country so far, I’ve played nine matches [including matches on the Challenger Tour] and won them all, so hopefully I can end my week tomorrow with another win and another title in Croatia – a second of two [Challenger Tour title in Split, 2020], so hopefully I can get it.”