Appropriately, it came with a drop shot.
Lorenzo Musetti feathered a sliced ball over the net to that taunting spot that kids you into thinking you will get there, but you know you won’t.
Taylor Fritz knew he couldn’t.
Musetti has booked a spot in the quarter-finals.Credit: Eddie Jim
It was the third point in a row and Musetti had played the shot to win the match.
Serving for the match Musetti hit ace, drop shot, drop shot, drop shot. Game, Set. Match.
And so with that joker’s hit he claimed a spot to play The Joker, Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.
That is the story for tomorrow, today it was about satisfyingly arriving at a quarter-final at a hard court grand slam for the first time – he has made it at Wimbledon and Roland Garros but not here or the US.
Taylor Fritz is out of the Australian Open.Credit: Eddie Jim
For two players separated by so little in the world rankings (Fritz’s 9 to Musetti’s 5). The difference in class was far wider.
Partly was because Fritz looked hampered by injury – he came into the tournament managing a knee injury and began the match with his sides strapped up.
He didn’t move freely the whole match, but it was difficult to disentangle how much his game was down and just how good Musetti was because the Italian played some sublime tennis.
Fritz is known as the player with the big serve and Musetti the one who knew at the end of last year his serve was a soft spot.
This is Musetti’s best performance at the AO.Credit: Eddie Jim
On Monday, Musetti rattled down 13 aces to Fritz’s 10. His quickest serve was 3.2kmh quicker than Fritz’s. He went at 68 per cent of first serves in to Fritz’s 60.
This is only said to reinforce the point of how on this day a weakness proved a strength for Musetti. But it was his normal strengths that were equally significant in the game.
Those strengths were the light and shade in his game, as reflected by those three consecutive drop shots to close out the match. Some players look like they are moving fast and aren’t, Musetti is the opposite.
He doesn’t seem like he’s working hard, but he gets to everything with a minimum of apparent effort.
It means Fritz was never in command of points even in circumstances where he should be, those moments where he was pushing Musetti back and forth across the court.
Lorenzo Musetti in action.Credit: Eddie Jim
The Italian would arrive at the ball and slice a ball to a corner it had no right to get to. He has a De Minaur feel about him in that. Next he plays Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.
“Novak. We played many times and each time it is a lesson,” Musetti said.
Indeed. Ten times they have played and only once has Musetti prevailed – that was in 2023 on clay. Being here on Djokovic’s court is another matter.
Musetti def Fritz 6-2, 7-5 6-4.