Lorenzo Musetti seals Chengdu final spot | ATP Tour

Chengdu

Musetti dials in to seal Chengdu final spot

Top seed will play home favourite Shang or Hanfmann at ATP 250

September 23, 2024

Can Lorenzo Musetti finally break into the winner’s circle on the ATP Tour in 2024?

The Italian on Monday downed qualifier Alibek Kachmazov 6-4, 6-2 to reach the championship match at the Chengdu Open. Musetti, who has also reached tour-level finals at Queen’s Club and in Umag this year, held firm in the face of some clean baseline hitting from his opponent at the Chinese ATP 250.

Cruising into the final 🛞@Lorenzo1Musetti confidently takes down Kachmazov 6-4 6-2 to reach his 5th ATP Tour final!@ChengduOpen | #ChengduOpen pic.twitter.com/5KY1PBSNyC

— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 23, 2024

Despite the one-sided nature of the scoreline, Musetti needed one hour and 42 minutes to end the fairytale run of Kachmazov, who had not dropped a set all week in Chengdu (including qualifying) prior to the match. The Italian saved all three break points he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats, en route to his personal-best 37th tour-level win of the year.

“He was solid, He was really impressive from the beginning, and it was not easy to break him or to hold serve,” said Musetti in his on-court interview. “I think it was one of my best performances so far on serve and I’m really happy about it. I’m really happy to be in the final.”

Reaching his fifth ATP Tour final this week in Chengdu has also boosted Musetti’s chances of forging a late run to a Nitto ATP Finals debut in 2024. The 22-year-old remains 15th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin but is now just 855 points behind eighth-placed Alex de Minaur.

Despite semi-final defeat, the 22-year-old Kachmazov has risen 73 spots to No. 179 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings and is set to rise to a career-high in the PIF ATP Rankings on Wednesday off the back of his run in Chengdu. He defeated Top 100 opponents Aleksandar Kovacevic, Taro Daniel and Nicolas Jarry in the main draw.

Musetti’s opponent in Tuesday’s final in Chengdu will be #NextGenATP home favourite Shang Juncheng or Yannick Hanfmann. The 19-year-old Shang is bidding to become just the second Chinese ATP Tour finalist in history, although he would be swiftly followed by Zhang Zhizhen or Buyunchaokete, who will contest a semi-final in Hangzhou later on Monday.