Lorenzo Musetti edges Taylor Fritz for first major semifinal in second best day of his life

WIMBLEDON—It was 6:40 p.m. Wednesday evening on Wimbledon’s No. 1 Court. On the south end of the court, Lorenzo Musetti walked up to serve, four points away from reaching the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. Musetti at this point led Taylor Fritz, 5-1 in the fifth set.

Watch Musetti compete and you will experience many emotions. At times, he is that odd mix of a passive shot maker, highly reactive in nature, yet keen to answer an opponent’s question with a massive query of his own. Musetti’s one-handed backhand most of all can inspire rapture as he turns his shoulders and rolls it either crosscourt or up-the-line. But there also come moments of questionable decision-making, sporadic play, and a massive drop in fitness and focus.

Hence, even with that big a lead, Musetti’s next actions remained highly uncertain. How would he start this potentially conclusive game?

Simple: With a 126 m.p.h. ace down the T. Next, Musetti struck a 122 m.p.h. serve, again down the center, taking command of the rally quickly enough to extract a Fritz forehand error. Two points later, leading 30-15, Musetti carved a forehand drop shot that literally brought Fritz to the ground. At 40-15, Musetti sliced his served wide—this one at 121 m.p.h.—and watched a forehand return float long. It was now 6:43 p.m. Musetti had won, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, and will now play Novak Djokovic on Friday.

“For me, it's kind of a magic day,” Musetti said following his quarterfinal victory. “I have to say after the birth of my son, I will put in the second position today for my career. Of course, for my career is the best day of my life.”

Those final three minutes had been preceded by three hours and 24 minutes of tremendous swings in momentum. Fritz was the favorite. He’d defeated Musetti here in straight sets two years ago and had played inspired tennis in the previous round, rallying from two sets to love down to beat fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev.

But on the two occasions in this match when Fritz had appeared ready to pull away, Musetti was the one who took control. The first came early. Fritz broke Musetti’s serve at 1-2 and was scarcely troubled through the duration of the set. Most notably, Fritz won a whopping 67 percent of his second serve points. Musetti at this stage appeared uncertain how he planned to win three sets worth of points.

And when Fritz captured Musetti’s serve to start the second set, signs pointed towards him snapping open the match. But Musetti suddenly woke up, broke Fritz at 15, and then commenced an inspired medley. Slices, drives, drop shots, lob volleys and more all surfaced over the next two sets. Musetti played a magnificent tiebreaker to even the match, then sprinted through the third.

For me, it's kind of a magic day. I have to say after the birth of my son, I will put in the second position today for my career. —Lorenzo Musetti

Now it was Fritz’ turn to rally. Serving at 2-2, love-40, he fought off each of those three break points with magnificent shots, including a crosscourt backhand winner and a wide 109 m.p.h. ace. Staring down another break point, Fritz lined a massive inside-in forehand and eventually held. Breaking Musetti at 3-4, Fritz held at love and once again appeared in the driver’s seat.

But with a point to hold for 1-all in the fifth, Fritz netted an easy forehand. From there, Musetti was nearly unstoppable, playing even better than he had during the second and third sets.

Asked if he felt fatigued due from his prior five-setter versus Zverev, Fritz said that was not a factor, instead citing the court conditions.

“I mean, it's a big difference in terms of how it's going to feel, as well, when I played Sascha with the roof closed,” he said. “The conditions are so nice. There's no wind. You always know where the ball's going to be. You get in such a good rhythm. Now I'm playing someone who's slicing and moving the ball around with also the wind as well. It's tough. I felt like probably the biggest thing was when I'm playing someone that plays like him, I really need to be able to set up and be able to generate power, like really pinpoint where I want to hit the shot. I have to be very accurate because you're not going to be able to hit the ball as hard off of the dead slices.”

It was fitting that Fritz cited Musetti’s slice given that the man with the greatest slice backhand in tennis history, Ken Rosewall, was courtside watching the match. Musetti employed the slice deftly, mixing it with drives well enough to elicit 36 unforced errors off the Fritz forehand.

“With a good baseliner like Taylor,” said Musetti, “if you play every time flat, I cannot win a point. I mean, I'm playing his game. So probably it was the strategy to try to mix every ball and try to lead the game.”

Fritz had also reached the quarterfinals here in 2022, only eliminated by Rafael Nadal in a fifth-set tiebreaker. “I think it might sound strange, but I think the one two years ago hurt even more because I was within points of winning,” said Fritz. “I think, I don't know, that one might have hurt more, but I think this one is a bit more—I'm probably a bit more disappointed maybe.”

When it comes to Grand Slams, Musetti is also familiar with disappointment. Twice he’s extended Djokovic to five sets at Roland Garros, the most recent coming last month. “I mean, I've had many, many tough losses,” Musetti said tonight. “Especially of course the best results before this week were made in French Open . . . I think I made, of course, a step forward in the maturity and experience. Probably that losses with all big champions made me think, made me work harder.”

Inspiration has long been a common element in many a Musetti match. Today, though, it was also joined by exceptional grit and, that most important asset, grace under pressure. The father has just a created a powerful memory to share with his son.