LONDON: Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti survived a fightback from Australia’s Jordan Thompson to reach the final of the Queen’s tournament on Saturday.
The 22-year-old won through 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in two hours and 18 minutes to advance to his third ATP Tour final.
“That was definitely one of the toughest matches of this week. Jordan was playing at an amazing level, especially in the second and third set,” said 30th-ranked Musetti.
“It was key for me to hold serve at the end and I’m really proud of what I’ve achieved this week.”
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Musetti next meets either fifth seed Tommy Paul or Sebastian Korda who play an all-American semi-final later Saturday.
“It would be super nice to win here in Queen’s with so much history,” said the Italian.
“There are a lot of Italians here in London, I really feel like I’m at home.”
Musetti struck 14 winners and hit just four unforced errors in the decider, sealing victory on his first match point.
Musetti also defeated Alex de Minaur and Brandon Nakashima in three sets earlier in the tournament and holds a 7-1 record on grass this year, having advanced to the semi-finals in Stuttgart last week.
Thompson, ranked 43rd, had been bidding to reach his fourth tour-level final on grass.
However, the 30-year-old needed treatment for a back problem at the changeovers and had to battle from a set down to take the match to a decider.
Musetti grabbed the decisive break when the Australian’s volley landed just out, and held serve to love before collapsing in delight after his second win over Thompson in as many meetings.
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