Lorenzo Musetti has broken new ground in his career after sealing his place in the last eight of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time at Wimbledon. 

Musetti, who is seeded 25th in the draw, rallied back from a set down to oust French lucky loser Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2, who was playing on his 21st birthday. It is the second time he has gotten the better of his opponent on the grass after also triumphing in straight sets in Stuttgart last month. The Italian joins compatriot Jannik Sinner in the last eight at the All England Club to make it the first time two players from the country have reached this stage of the Grand Slam. 

“It’s tough for me to get emotional but I think today I will. I’ve been dreaming of this moment since I was a kid,” said Musetti. 
“I always had a beautiful family who supported me in chasing my dream, it’s tough to speak sorry.
“It’s such a big day for me and I’m really happy and proud of this win against a tough opponent. I struggled a little at the beginning against a big serve. I’m a little bit shaking still but at the end it’s a really phenomenal day for me.”

The world No.25 was given a stern test early on but utilised his experience and capitalised on some mistakes from his younger opponent to turn the match around. The aggressive play saw Musetti hit 34 winners which was cancelled out by his 41 unforced errors. 

Musetti’s Wimbledon breakthrough follows what has been a solid grass swing. In Stuttgart he reached the semi-finals and then at Queen’s in London he was runner-up to Tommy Paul. Until this year, the 22-year-old had never contested a Tour final on the surface. 

Meanwhile, Perricard can take plenty of positives from his run at Wimbledon on what was his debut. Earlier in the tournament, he stunned 20th seed Seb Korda before going on to beat Yoshihito Nishioka and Emil Ruusuvuori. He is projected to rise in the ATP rankings to inside the top 50 for the first time in his career when the standings are updated next week. 

Musetti will next play either Taylor Fritz or Alexander Zverev. He beat Fritz earlier this year in Monte Carlo but is yet to get the better of Zverev. 

Boris Becker will be part of Sky Sports Italy’s team of commentators starting from the quarterfinals of the men’s singles next week.

interviewed by Federica Cocchi from the Gazzetta dello Sport, he said he was enthusiastic about a specific match  of this first week: 

“The match between Sinner and Berrettini was ‘a real’ match of excellent tennis. I was pleased to see that Matteo is once more competitive at last, but I didn’t have big worries about Jannik: he is confident like few others on the tour right now.”He said. 

“There is the eternal debate about the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ draws to me, as a player and then as a coach, it has always seemed a sterile discussion, it is the player who makes the draw a good draw. Personally, I always preferred to start with tougher opponents, because it prepared me mentally for the second week. I think Sinner’s victory with Berrettini has projected him fully into the tournament.” 

Becker, who won the Wimbledon title three times during the 1980s, goes on to explain the challenges of playing on grass are for players.

“Tennis on grass is a different sport from the tennis which is played on other surfaces,” explains the German, “the movements are much more complicated, I remember that the first few days I used to struggle to organise my footwork. The body has a different, lower position, the points are very fast and you have to be physically prepared and mentally reactive. If you drop your service on clay you still have the chance to regroup, if it happens to you on grass you have much fewer opportunities. Psychologically it is certainly the toughest surface to manage, you have to have a lot of confidence in your game and Sinner has it right now.” 

“I think Sinner is on the right track. He has been playing for months now at a very high level, and his greatest quality is consistency. If we consider the last period he has not yet played a “bad match”, let’s touch wood. On the one hand you can’t always win, but on the other he has always kept a very high level, more than any other player since the beginning of the year. This means that to beat him you have to do even better and that’s why this year he’s only lost a couple of matches.” 

Two of Sinner’s three defeats came at Indian Wells and Roland Garros to his friend, and seemingly lifelong rival, Carlos Alcaraz.

“We all have weaknesses, even Alcaraz! No, seriously, on the court he’s close to perfection, but sometimes he is a bit fluctuating in form while Sinner is more continuously consistent. When you see a match of Jannik today, you know exactly what to expect, with Carlos you don’t. Right now the Italian is mentally rock solid and this is evident on the court.” 

Carlos Alcaraz has matched a milestone achieved by his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero following his latest win at Wimbledon on Sunday.

The defending champion battled his way to a 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, win over France’s Ugo Humbert who was the first left-handed player he had faced in this year’s tournament. His latest display at The All England Club saw the Spaniard fire 44 winners against 33 unforced errors as he broke his rival six times. He has now won 15 matches at Wimbledon so far in his career against just two losses.

As the rain poured down onto the Center Court roof, Alcaraz was able to dictate play with the help of some thunderous hitting that put world No.16 Humbert under intense pressure. The Frenchman did produce glimmers of the tennis that have seen him score a trio of top 10 wins by breaking his rival four times in a row at one stage. However, that wasn’t enough to derail the third seed in what was their first tour-level meeting.

“Playing lefties is always tricky, no matter the surface.” Said Alcaraz.
“I played my first leftie at Queen’s so I learnt a little bit from that. I felt great playing today, I think I played a really high level and playing a leftie I tried not to think about it and just played my own game.”

Storming through the first set in a relatively comfortable fashion, Alcaraz’s first big test occurred during the early stages of the second frame. A marathon five-deuce service game saw him fend off a quartet of break points before holding to nudge ahead 3-2. Then at 5-4, he snatched the second set by displaying some sublime defensive skills during a lengthy rally where he slipped over midway through before a Humbert shot landed out.

“Unbelievable I guess,” Alcaraz said of that second set point. “I mean I just (laughs) I just tried to fight every ball, every point. Doesn’t matter which part of the court I am.
“I just try to run and give myself the chance to stay alive in the point. But even more important is like this one, set point is a really important point for me so I had to show the opponent that it doesn’t matter if he’s gonna shoot, that I’m gonna be there.
“That’s myself, fighting until the last ball. Sometimes it’s a pretty good point like this one, sometimes I lose it.”

There were still challenges for Alcaraz to overcome with him dropping serve for the first time in the third set and at one point he was shaking his right arm which was presumable due to tension. Meanwhile, Humbert capitalised on the opportunity to run away with the lead and out of nowhere took the fourth set. 

Despite the blip, Alcaraz edged his way to victory whilst being visibly frustrated with areas of his game. It is the sixth major tournament in a row where he has reached at least the last eight. 

“I just choose the shot when I am going to hit it. I don’t think about it beforehand.” He later commented about his game.
“I like the forehand drop shot, passing shot from the forehand or the lob tweener, that is my favourite shot so I try to find that in every match.”

Overall, it is the ninth time Alcaraz has reached the quarter-final of a Grand Slam event which is the same amount as his mentor Ferrero reached throughout his career. However, he has a long way to go to beat the record held by a Spanish payer which is Rafael Nadal’s tally of 47. 

Alcaraz, who has won 30 matches so far this season, will next take on either Queen’s champion Tommy Paul or fellow countryman Roberto Bautista Agut.