Musetti sinks Fritz

Lorenzo Musetti earned his 100th tour-level win on Sunday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters when he moved past Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4 at the clay-court event.

The Italian has fond memories in Monte-Carlo, having defeated Novak Djokovic en route to the quarter-finals last season. The 22-year-old played with confidence against Fritz, pulling the American around the court with his execution to improve to 1-2 in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series.

Musetti’s best result this year was a fourth-round run in Miami, while his best-ever tour-level result on clay came in Hamburg in 2022 when he won the title. He earned his first tour-level win in Rome in 2020 when he defeated Stan Wawrinka.

The No. 24 player in the PIF ATP Rankings will next meet #NextGenATP Frenchman Arthur Fils or Adrian Mannarino.

In other action, Borna Coric moved past Alexander Bublik 6-1, 6-1 to earn his first win in Monte-Carlo since 2019 when he reached the quarter-finals.

The Croatian, who reached the semi-finals at the clay-court ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid last season, did not face a break point to improve to 1-3 in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series.

“I was feeling very good on court, I was very pleased with my performance,” Coric said. “On my serve I was not serving that well but with everything else I was extremely happy. And the first match on clay is not easy so I am extremely happy to be through.”

Coric will next play Jan-Lennard Struff after the German defeated Sebastian Baez 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-2. Baez had won tour-level titles on clay in Rio de Janeiro and Santiago earlier this season but was unable to deal with Struff’s power. Last season, Struff reached the final as a lucky loser in Madrid.

Tallon Griekspoor also advanced. The Dutchman beat German Dominik Koepfer 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-2 in two hours and 25 minutes.