Alcaraz hasn’t performed best in the past two weeks, with the 23-year-old Musetti promising to be his toughest test to date.
Although Alcaraz leads the men’s tour in clay wins this season, Musetti is behind him, winning 19 of his 22 games.
The Italian made it to the semifinals of all three clay masters while Roland Garros did the same. But people question Musetti’s mindset and whether he truly believes that he can beat the best on the biggest stage.
He has lost to Alcaraz twice in three sets of matches between Monte Carlo and Monte Carlo this season, but there is no sign of lack of faith when he attends the opening ceremony.
In fact, it was Alcaraz who showed the first nerve suggestion.
The Spanish match went smoothly until a bad service game allowed Musetti to get the first breakpoint of the game at the match point.
Alcaraz responded by breaking the game in Game 3 of the second set, but Musetti hit the level directly 2-2.
Musetti’s focus dropped when he lost to the court in Game 11 – but it turned out not to be expensive.
Alcaraz showed tension again in the double fault of 15-30, before Musetti reached level again with his stylish one-handed backhand.
Sometimes, Alcaraz is accused of being too casual, locking in the tiebreak completely and lifting one-third of his five fixed points to level.
A beautiful match was ruined when Musetti was clearly struggling.
Musetti scored just five points in the third set in 22 minutes and was unable to move freely before shaking hands with Alcaraz.
