In this unusual rainy edition of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, three matches were forced stopping last night, but upon resuming today all three ended up taking the way of the ones who were already leading.
Alexander Zverev was the first to get it done as he took down JJ Wolf in straight sets. The German had won the first set yesterday, so today he only needed a few extra games, finding a key break on 5-5 before closing it on serve. The 6-4 7-5 victory made him advance to the 4th round where he is set to play against Daniil Medvedev.
Not as easy of a task it was for Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Greek was also a set up against Italian Lorenzo Sonego, but the second set was a battle. Sonego played inspired tennis on Campo Centrale to put his rival on the ropes. Last year’s finalist had to save set points in two consecutive games – one of them saved with a stunning forehand winner- before closing at the tiebreak with a 6-3 7-6(3) score.
The quicky, though intense, fight was much needed for Tsitsipas, because later today he will be playing against Lorenzo Musetti, who also had to wrap his third round match this afternoon.
Magical Musetti ✨
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 16, 2023
The Italian beats Frances Tiafoe 5-7 6-4 6-3 to send the home crowd CRAZY! #IBI23 pic.twitter.com/8BMKmHWSlU
“Lollo” needed only some 20 minutes to close his battle with Francis Tiafoe, but the epilogue of an intense match that lived its most dramatic moments last night was a high quality one. Musetti had gone to bed with a break advantage in the decider and it looked like he built his confidence on it today: he left little to no chances on return to the American, while he kept being aggressive on return. Tiafoe managed to avoid a second break in his first service game, but ended up getting broken to surrender the match 5-7 6-4 6-3.
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