Taylor Fritz is not having a very good season so far, and it continued at the 2024 Monte-Carlo Masters as Lorenzo Musetti beat him in the first round.
Fritz hasn't played really well in recent weeks despite having a good start, and it's surprising to a degree. Like his compatriot Frances Tiafoe, neither was able to build on their breakout years to become regular Top 10 players, which is a shame for American tennis.
The biggest tennis star on the men's side in the United States is Ben Shelton right now, and that shows that Fritz hasn't been doing that well lately. Still, this defeat might look terrible on paper, but it's not that terrible because Musetti is playing really well this year, and he's a natural on clay.
His last year's run in Monte Carlo shows that as he downed Novak Djokovic. Their first-round match at the season's first ATP Masters 1000 clay-court tournament was one in which Fritz could have played a bit better and certainly smarter.
He took a lead in the opening set 4-2 and looked quite comfortable against the Italian. Fritz does have bigger weapons, but the Italian moves better on clay and has more patience.
The American wasn't very patient in this match, and he got frustrated far too quickly, which allowed Musetti to really make his life miserable. The first set ended on a 4-0 run by Musetti as Fritz struggled to find his rhythm.
Musetti would also break early in the second set, but this time around, Fritz broke back and held his serve for a couple of games. He would still run into problems at 4-4 and lose his serve, which basically sealed the match.
Musetti stepped up and calmly served it out for the final score of 6-4, 6-4. It was not the best match from Fritz, who misfired a bit too often, though Musetti played a really good match as well.
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