By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, November 4, 2026
Photo credit: Screen Shot
Racing forward, Alexander Zverev barely had time to raise his racquet as Lorenzo Musetti slashed a sharp backhand strike down the line.
Punishing the top seed with passes, Musetti delivered an elegant dissection defeating Zverev 7-6(5), 6-2 at the Rolex Paris Masters today.
It was Zverev’s first match as new world No. 1, but Musetti crashed the party with precision and purpose scoring his second career win over a world No. 1.
Slamming successive aces to close in style, Musetti scored his first win over a world No. 1 since he surprised top-ranked Novak Djokovic at the 2023 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters on red clay.
“To simplify it, he played really good and I played really bad, if you want to simplify it,” Zverev said. “Yeah, just the way it is.”
World No. 24 Musetti is the fifth man in Open Era history to defeat a top-ranked player in his first match as world No. 1. Musetti joins Jose-Luis Clerc, Sandon Stolle, Nicolas Escude and Felix Auger-Aliassime, who toppled Carlos Alcaraz in his first match as No. 1 at the 2022 Davis Cup, in achieving the feat.
While this a draw-shattering upset, Musetti played the match with the calm of a man who knew he had a winning plan. World No. 24 Musetti improved to 4-2 lifetime vs. Zverev.
Rarely does Zverev, whose two-handed backhand is one of the best in the sport, look befuddled in backhand exchanges.
Today, Musetti masterfully mixed the spins, speeds and heights of his shots and made the tall German uncomfortable working the low slice backhand that forced Zverev to hit up on the ball. Musetti rallied from 2-5 down in the tie break reeling off five points in a row—including crackling forehand return winner down the line—to snatch the first set and seize momentum.
In his last match before playing the ATP Finals in Turin, Zverev said he’s got a lot of work after playing “maybe one of the worst [matches] in the last couple of months.”
“Well, improve, then today, probably everything, because I think this was not a very good match for me, I think maybe one of the worst in the last couple of months,” Zverev told the media in Paris. “Yeah, the way it is, the court, yeah, was very, very fast, but I actually think that this is the court that it should be during the indoor season.
“Yeah, I was bad. It’s quite simple. There’s no excuses. It’s like that.”
Ten days after Musetti carved up Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-4 to snap a streak of seven straight Tour-level finals losses and capture the Lyon championship, he showed his all-court skills, improving to 7-1 indoors in 2026.
World No. 24 Musetti will face Frenchman Luca Van Assche for a quarterfinal spot.
Earlier, Van Assche lashed 11 aces and saved nine of 10 break points defeating 15th-seeded American Learner Tien, 7-6(4), 6-4, inciting an eruption of cheers, drums and horns from Paris fans in celebration.
Mixing in low slice backhands to make the 6’6” Zverev bend low, Musetti stamped a solid hold at 15 for a 4-3 lead.
Reading the wide serve, Musetti snapped off a forehand return winner down the line for a second break point in the eighth game. Zverev stepped in the court and hammered a forehand down the line to save it.
Banging a backhand down the line, Zverev held to even after eight games.
The Italian whipped the wide serve to save the first break point he faced. Working through a challenging hold, Musetti edged ahead 5-4.
Rallying from Love-30 down, Zverev punctured pressure with punishing serves to force the first-set tie break.
Opening the breaker with a backhand pass down the line, Zverev later crashed a forehand down the line extending his lead to 5-2.
In a stirring stretch of shotmaking, Musetti blasted a big backhand crosscourt for 5-all. Reading the wide serve again, Musetti ripped a stretched forehand return winner down the line for set point.
Slamming a serve winner out wide, Musetti finished the 64-minute opening set on a five-point tear.
Streaking left, Musetti spun a slick backhand pass down the line for a break point to start the second set. Zverev steadied the ship sending a forehand strike down the line to hold.
Two games later, Musetti exposed the top seed’s sometime front-court frailty with a forehand pass down the line. Zverev nudged a backhand volley into net as Musetti broke for 2-1.
Lyon champion Musetti backed up the break at 30, extending his lead to 7-6, 3-1.
Trying to press the issue, Zverev pulled the serve-and-volley on a second serve, was in position for a forehand volley, but took too big of a swing, steering it wide to face a sixth break point.
Attacking the Italian’s wondrous one-hander proved an exercise in futility for the top seed. Measuring his backhand, Musetti spun a clean pass down the line breaking again for 5-2.
Dabbing a drop shot and cracking an ace out wide brought Musetti triple match point.
Musetti spun his second straight ace out wide sealing his second win over a world No. 1 in 100 minutes.
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