It was an emotional evening at the Monte-Carlo Masters as Lorenzo Musetti booked a spot in the championship match. The Italian stormed back to beat No. 8 seed Alex de Minaur 1-6 6-4 7-6(4) and doubled over in disbelief as his girlfriend, Veronica Confalonieri, burst into tears.
Musetti’s partner has been courtside in his box all week, and she had already become emotional when he won his quarter-final match on Friday. After his latest victory, the world No. 16 raced over to embrace a tearful Confalonieri and the rest of his team.
The 23-year-old pulled off another escape act to break new ground at Masters 1000 level, reaching the biggest final of his career. Musetti has come back from a set down in all but one of his matches this week.
He had to put in another shift to beat De Minaur after the Aussie raced through the first set for the loss of just one game. Musetti forced a decider and had the chance to serve for the match but got broken when he hit his first double fault of the day.
The Italian refused to give up, winning the nail-biter in a final set tiebreak, and his support camp erupted. Confalonieri, who has a one-year-old son with Musetti, was in tears as she watched her boyfriend celebrate reaching his first Masters final.
After shaking hands with De Minaur, the 13th seed in Monaco rushed over to his box for a warm embrace with Confalonieri.
The tears were soon wiped away, and Musetti’s girlfriend jumped for joy as they shared a hug with another member of his team.
Afterwards, the Italian opened up on his difficult path to the final.
“I had to repeat the same match every day here in Monte-Carlo except the one with Matteo [Berrettini],” he said.
“I always struggled to start to find the rhythm. But today I think Alex was playing really, really solid.
“And the conditions at the beginning, I was not let’s say appreciating the conditions and it was really slow today with the rain, the humidity. So it was not easy to break through Alex’s wall. So in the end, I started to be patient, really patient, and that was the key.”
Musetti didn’t just have the support of Confalonieri and his team. Thanks to Monaco’s close border with Italy, the world No. 16 has essentially been playing in front of a home crowd all week.
He added: “It’s something really, really remarkable, honestly, sharing all these beautiful moments with my friends, my family. We have everyone here.
“It’s really my home and definitely feel at home so really appreciating all the love from the crowd.”
Musetti will now face No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz as he bids to win the biggest title of his career. The Italian has a losing 3-1 head-to-head against Alcaraz but he can take confidence from winning their 2022 Hamburg final on the clay.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk