M 1000 MIAMI OPEN.By Gabriel Matteazzi
Italian Lorenzo Musetti, ranked 24th in the world, will face Spanish Carlos Alcaraz (ranked 2nd) in the Miami Open round of 16 this Tuesday after defeating American Ben Shelton (ranked 17th) in the third round on Monday.
Musetti secured the victory against Shelton with a score of 6-4, 7-6(5) in one hour and 52 minutes.
Shortly before, Alcaraz did the same by convincingly defeating Gael Monfils (ranked 47th) with scores of 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and 14 minutes in a match where the Frenchman experienced problems with his left foot. The Murcian leads their previous encounters 2-1 against Musetti, a generational rival (aged 22), who defeated him in the 2022 Hamburg final.
Having made 14 winners and winning 33 out of 40 points on his first serve for a remarkable 83% effectiveness, Musetti will join Matteo Arnaldi and Jannik Sinner in the first instance where three Italian players will be present in the round of 16 in ATP Masters 1000 tournaments on hard courts since the introduction of this format in 1990. In 2023, Alcaraz won both encounters between them: in the Roland Garros round of 16 and in the Beijing round of 16.