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Musetti demonstrates new-found grit in Roland Garros R3 win, Rune advances in five

Italian improves to 17-3 on clay in 2025
May 30, 2025
Lorenzo Musetti advances to the fourth round at Roland Garros for the third time.
ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images
Lorenzo Musetti advances to the fourth round at Roland Garros for the third time. By Sam Jacot

Lorenzo Musetti passed his first test at this year’s Roland Garros on Friday when he rallied from a set and a break down to move past Mariano Navone 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 and match his best result at the clay-court major.

The eighth-seeded Italian trailed Navone 4-6, 0-2 and in previous years may have faltered against the consistent Argentine, who has reached tour-level finals on clay in Rio de Janeiro and Bucharest.

However, this season, the 23-year-old is playing with a new-found grit and resilience. The 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Musetti started to find his range off the backhand wing and used his slice and heavy forehand to force Navone out of his comfort zone and turn the tables in hot conditions.

After committing 19 unforced errors in the first set, Musetti tightened up, hitting 31 across the next three sets to advance to the fourth round after three hours and 28 minutes on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

"It was completely different conditions than the past two matches. The ball was bouncing not that high and today at the beginning I was a bit surprised and physically I could not find my best shape," Musetti said. "But then after I started to feel better and at the end I was improving my game, so I am happy and really proud of my comeback."

Musetti, who did not drop a set in his opening two wins against Yannick Hanfmann and Daniel Elahi Galan, has been red-hot on the clay since the Olympics last July, which were held in Paris. The No. 7 in the PIF ATP Rankings advanced to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title match in Monte-Carlo in April and then reached semi-finals in Madrid and Rome.

"I have put some order in my tennis house," Musetti said on his improvement. "It is not easy for me to make a decision, so I think the key is I have more idea of what I have to do on court. I have worked a lot on the attitude, on the mental side. For a match like this, before I don't know if I would have comeback like today, so I am proud of what I am achieving this season so far."

Now 17-3 on clay in 2025, the Italian will aim to reach the quarter-finals at Roland Garros for the first time when he takes on 10th seed Holger Rune.

Musetti has suffered Roland Garros heartbreak in the past, notably on debut in 2021 when he led Novak Djokovic by two sets to love before falling. However, this is a new Musetti and the 23-year-old demonstrated his new-found confidence by flexing his muscles in celebration after improving to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Navone.

It All Adds Up

On Court Philippe-Chatrier, Rune rallied back from the brink to overcome Frenchman Quentin Halys 4-6, 6-2, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 and reach the fourth round in Paris for the fourth consecutive year.

The 22-year-old Dane was two points from defeat when serving at 4-5, 15/30 in the fourth set, but upped the aggression and intensity from that moment, winning nine of the final 11 games. Rune holds a 7-3 fifth-set record at majors.

“I tried to change some things. The first set didn’t go how I wanted it to. I tried to adapt, with the conditions being much different today. I put more spin on the ball as the ball was flying more, but the player who took more risk was the most efficient today,” Rune said. “I am very happy with how I played in the fourth and in the fifth, I think that is some tennis I can use moving forward in the tournament.”

The World No. 10 is a two-time quarter-finalist in the French capital and is just the ninth man in the Open Era to reach the fourth round at Roland Garros in all of his first four appearances, joining champions Rafael Nadal, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Jim Courier, Mats Wilander and Bjorn Borg.

Rune, who lifted the title on clay at the ATP 500 in Barcelona in April, will take a 2-0 Lexus ATP Head2Head lead into his meeting with Musetti.

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