Lorenzo Musetti bests Stefanos Tsitsipas for second time this month with Madrid win

After losing his first five meetings with Stefanos Tsitsipas, Lorenzo Musetti has now claimed the last two.

And both have come in the month of April on red clay.

On Tuesday at the Mutua Madrid Open, Musetti continued to strengthen his case for a Top 10 debut. Down early the opening set, the No. 10 seed secured a 7-5, 7-6 (3) victory in a battle of one-handed backhands.

Musetti saved a set point at 4-5 en route to reeling off five consecutive games. The server held in every game of set two, with Tsitsipas staving off four break points at 4-4 and another one at 5-5. But the Italian roared to the first six points of the tie-break, giving himself plenty of padding to close out the 2019 runner-up.

With the loss, Tsitsipas remains outside the Top 16 seedings for Roland Garros. The 2021 French Open finalist has his work cut out for him to change that reality, with quarterfinal points to back up in Rome.

Less than three weeks earlier, Musetti halted the Greek’s Monte Carlo title defense on his way to a first career 1000-level final. The 23-year-old jumped to a career-high ranking of No. 11 following that run and can further his cause to go higher if he advances past sixth-seeded Alex de Minaur. As fate would have it, Musetti also toppled the Australian in a dramatic semifinal finish at the Monte Carlo Country Club.

De Minaur defeated 29th seed Denis Shapovalov, 6-3, 7-6 (3), winning 75 percent of his second-serve points.

Eleventh seed Tommy Paul, one of the players who can prevent Musetti from breaking into the Top 10 here, also came through in third-round action. The American fended off 24th-seeded Karen Khachanov, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. Paul gets Jack Draper next, as the Indian Wells champion progressed when Matteo Berrettini retired down a set with an abdominal injury.

Frances Tiafoe, the No. 16 seed, gets Novak Djokovic’s conqueror in Matteo Arnaldi for a quarterfinal berth after dismissing Alexandre Muller, 6-3, 6-3.