By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday September 15, 2020
Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti claimed his first ATP win on Tuesday night in Rome, knocking off three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka 6-0 7-6(2) to become the first player born in 2002 to win an ATP match.
“I didn’t expect this win,” Musetti told reporters after the match. “But I think I deserved it because I played really good tennis. I’m still not believing what I did tonight, so I’m just accepting that.”
The Italian, ranked 249 in the world, was all over Wawrinka in the early going. He won 14 of 21 return points and broke three times to hand the Swiss a bagel, and when things eventually got tight in the second set Musetti kept his calm and went for his shots to claim the victory.
“I don’t know why but I was calm also before the match, and I think that’s the key of my victory,” Musetti said.
Wawrinka got himself back into the match with a break for 3-3 in set two, but Musetti stayed with him to force a tiebreaker before running away with it at the finish.
Musetti raced out to a 6-1 lead and then converted his second match point with a forehand winner to finish up. He will face Kei Nishikori in second-round action at Rome and is one of a record eight Italians that have made it through to the second round.
“Stan has an incredible backhand, an incredible serve and a lot of power,” Musetti said. “I think I just managed my weapons the best tonight. First set was almost perfect, second set he tried to player better and he was focused on the match, and he wanted to win the set, but I served really good and I mixed a lot with the wide serve, T and body serve, so I think the serve was the key.”