(Tennis news) Sebastian Baez showed lightning speed as he beat Lorenzo Musetti in the first upset of Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals. Baez showed skill and had supreme court coverage as he took the first two sets in no time, Musetti took the third set in a tiebreaker with some high class backhand strokes and volleys. In the fourth set, Musetti started well with powerful forehands as Baez also kept attacking at the net as a tiebreaker was needed. It was 5 all when Baez set up a matchpoint with a well crafted volley and won the match as he will next face Sebastian Korda tomorrow. Baez defeated Musetti 4-1, 4-1, 3-4(5-7), 4-3(7-5).
“I feel so good,” Baez said in his on-court interview. “It was a great match and I am happy to win as Lorenzo is a great player. He started to play better and the crowd began to really support him. It is special for us when you are in your own country with the energy from the people. I tried to stay in the moment and think about the next point.”
Top seed Carlos Alacaraz kept improving in each set against Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune for his first win in Milan. It was a battle between the highest versus the lowest ranked player for the scores that gave justification to that as it was the only straight set victory in the first two days. Carlos kept his firepower winners from the start as Rune too found his form in the opening set but could not catch him in the next two sets. Carlos defeated Rune 4-3(8-6), 4-2, 4-0.
Sebastian Korda was only a point away from defeat in his match against Hugo Gaston as he came back from the brink. Hugo showed great ball control on court as he took the first two sets as he looked more comfortable than ever but Korda took the third one without conceding a single game. Gaston had a matchpoint in the fourth set at 3-2 until Korda served a monster ace to take the set to a tie breaker which Korda won, in the final set Korda again gave no opportunity to Gaston as he took four straight games to win the match. Korda defeated Gaston 3-4(2-7), 3-4(6-8), 4-0, 4-3(7-3), 4-0.
Brandon Nakashima mixed power with grace as he beat Juan Manuel Cerundolo in his first match at Milan. Brandon started the match aggressively as he went for the kill in most of the rallies while taking the first set as Juan hit some well placed winners to take the second one. Brandon then went on to take the next two sets as he punched through the Argentine to win the match, defeating Juan 4-1, 3-4(3-7), 4-1, 4-0.
Also read: Carlos Alcaraz and Sebastian Korda leading the young field at Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals
