Musetti stuns Alcaraz in Hamburg to win his first ATP title
ATP
Two youngsters met in the 2022 Hamburg Open final, and shockingly, it was Lorenzo Musetti who lifted the trophy, beating Carlos Alcaraz.
For Alcaraz, it was already the fifth ATP final of the 2022 season, while Musetti played his first-ever Tour-level final. Players battled for more than three hours and fans at the 2022 Hamburg Open enjoyed a spectacular final.
To reach the final, the top-seeded Alcaraz bested Nicola Kuhn, Filip Krajinovic, Karen Khachanov, and Alex Molcan, losing only one set on his way to the final.
Musetti, on the other hand, beat Dusan Lajovic, Emil Ruusuvuori, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, and Francisco Cerundolo, also losing only one set to reach the final of the tournament.
But the Italian player had a difficult task in the final. His opponent had yet to lose in a final in his tennis career. Moreover, he had yet to lose a set in a final, so Musetti had to play probably the best tennis of his life to defeat Alcaraz.
But he started very well when he got a break in the first game of the match. Despite losing it in the very next game, he added one more later in the set to win it 6-4 and become the first player ever to win a set against Alcaraz in an ATP final.
In the second set, the Spaniard was already 4-5 15-40 down as he faced two match points. Yet, he managed to fight back and win the set 8-6 in a tie-break after facing another three match points in the tie-break.
Yet, in the third set of the match, the Italian was better than his opponent. He didn't allow him to have any break points, and when he had his sixth match point of the match, he succeeded in winning the match 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-4 to lift his maiden ATP Tour-level title.
