ATP Rome: 18-year-old Lorenzo Musetti stuns Stan Wawrinka to write history

An 18-year-old qualifier Lorenzo Musetti was the performer of the day in Rome on Tuesday, becoming the first player born in 2002 with an ATP victory. A teenager stunned the 10th seed and a former Roland Garros champion Stan Wawrinka 6-0, 7-6 in an hour and 23 minutes, competing on a much higher level than his ranking (249th) suggests. With no crowd to support him at Foro Italico but with momentum from the qualifying matches, Lorenzo faced only one break point in the entire clash, losing serve but breaking Stan four times to seal the deal in straight sets. Missing a couple of weeks after two Challenger events in Prague, Wawrinka was far from his best, struggling to find his strokes in the opener and bouncing back in the second, only to lose ground again in the tie break. Serving at 72%, the youngster controlled the pace in his games in the opener, delivering three breaks for a bagel.

Wawrinka sprayed a forehand error in the first game to lose serve at 15, finding himself 3-0 down when his backhand landed long. Delivering bullets from his forehand and a one-handed backhand, Musetti grabbed another break in game five and closed the opener with a hold a few minutes later. Stan suffered another break at the beginning of the second set, dropping nine of the first ten games to trail 6-0, 3-1. The three-time Major champion started to climb back from there, pulling the break back in game six following a loose drop shot from Lorenzo and fending off two break chances in the next one to move 4-3 in front after a service winner. The returners claimed only four points in the next five games, with the tie break to determine the set's winner. Wawrinka played a loose forehand in the first point to give the youngster a mini-break, pulling it back in the next point for 1-1.

Lorenzo Musetti stunned Stan Wawrinka to bring first ATP win for 2002 generation.

Lorenzo opened a 3-1 gap following another loose forehand from the Swiss, moving further in front with a well-constructed attack and a volley winner. Returning at 6-2, Musetti landed a forehand winner to seal the deal and score the biggest triumph of his young career, the first on the ATP level for his generation. The 13th seed Milos Raonic defeated Adrian Mannarino 7-6, 6-2 in two hours and seven minutes, bouncing back after an early US Open loss. The Canadian lost only 11 points behind the initial shot, never facing a break point and mounting the pressure on the other side of the net. Mannarino fought well in the opener, losing the tie break 7-3 and not following Milos' pace in set number two. Raonic wasted a set point at 6-5 in the first set, staying focused to close it in the tie break and stealing the opponent's serve in games three and seven in set number two to march over the finish line.  

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3izCszf