Musetti Marches On In Marrakech

Will this be the week Lorenzo Musetti wins his first ATP Tour title? Two down, three to go in Marrakech.

The #NextGenATP Italian reached the quarter-finals of the Grand Prix Hassan II on Wednesday with a 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-3 victory against Spaniard Carlos Taberner. Musetti will play eighth seed Laslo Djere, who ousted Tunisian wild card Malek Jaziri 6-4, 6-2, for a place in his first semi-final of the season.

The 20-year-old saved six of the seven break points he faced and won 64 per cent of his second-serve points to move on after two hours and 29 minutes. This followed a strong first-round performance against Spanish clay-court standout Albert Ramos-Vinolas on Tuesday.

The 2021 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals competitor has proven himself on clay before, reaching the fourth round at Roland Garros last year. Once there, he won the first two sets against World No. 1 Novak Djokovic before the Serbian advanced. 

In other action, 2017 Nitto ATP Finals runner-up David Goffin made a good start to his clay-court season with a 6-2, 7-6(3) victory in the first round against qualifier Damir Dzumhur.

“It was not easy. I started really well getting an early break in the first. The first set was really good, 6-2 with some good groundstrokes, with serving well, really precise,” Goffin said. “The second it was a little bit tougher. I started to serve a little bit some double faults, some missed first serves, so he had a chance to come in the rally more often and then he had time to go for more drop shots, to dictate a little bit more in the second.

“But at the end, even if I was a break down, I played well to come back in the set and with a solid tie-break, so I’m happy to have my first win on the clay in the first tournament of the year on clay. It gives me confidence for the next round.”

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The Belgian will next play three-time champion Pablo Andujar, who defeated second seed Daniel Evans in his opener on Tuesday.

“He played a really good match yesterday against Dan Evans, the second seed,” Goffin said. “He likes the conditions here, he likes the tournament, so I will have to play my best tennis for sure to have a chance to beat him. But it will be a good match and hopefully I will play my best tennis.”

Three qualifiers earned first-round wins on Wednesday. Pavel Kotov eliminated ninth seed Tallon Griekspoor 0-6, 6-2, 6-2, Vit Kopriva defeated lucky loser Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-1, 6-4 and Mirza Basic rallied past Kamil Majchrzak 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.