Musetti reaches first major QF, De Minaur advances

Lorenzo Musetti is a Grand Slam quarter-finalist.

The Italian reached the last eight at a major for the first time on Monday at Wimbledon, where he ended the run of French lucky loser Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 victory.

Mpetshi Perricard was celebrating his 21st birthday and entered the match high in confidence. The big-serving Frenchman defeated Sebastian Korda, Yoshihito Nishioka and Emil Ruusuvuori en route to his first fourth-round appearance at a major, hitting 105 aces across his first three matches.

The Lyon champion was unable to fire at his best level against Musetti in the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting. The 25th seed broke Mpetshi Perricard’s serve five times and was the more consistent in the baseline exchanges, committing just eight unforced errors compared to 42 from his opponent.

"It is tough for me to get emotional but today I think I will," Musetti said. "I have been dreaming about this moment since I was a kid. I always had a really beautiful family who always supported me in chasing my dream."

Lorenzo Loving London 💚@Lorenzo1Musetti opens the day with a 4-6 6-3 6-3 6-2 victory over Mpetshi Perricard!@Wimbledon | #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/DMfEWls9l1

— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 8, 2024

With his two-hour, five-minute win on No. 2 Court, Musetti joined World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals. It is the first time in history that multiple Italian men have reached the last eight at SW19, with Musetti becoming just the seventh Italian man in history to advance to that stage.

The 22-year-old will next face Taylor Fritz on Wednesday.

The 6’8” Mpetshi Perricard, who hit several serves above 145mph during his run, was aiming to become the first lucky loser to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final. He is up 14 spots to No. 44 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.

On No. 1 Court, Australian Alex de Minaur advanced to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon for the first time when he downed #NextGenATP Frenchman Arthur Fils 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in an entertaining clash.

The ninth seed produced an intense performance to outlast Fils, scampering around the court to hang in points before turning the tables with his flat groundstrokes. The 25-year-old recovered from squandering a 4-2 lead in the third set to eventually finish the job in four, avenging his defeat to the 20-year-old in April in Barcelona.

“I will be alright, I will find a way,” De Minaur said when asked if he hurt his ankle when stretching to hit a volley on match point. “I made it a lot harder than I should have but happy to get through. It was a great job mentally to get through it, even though I couldn’t serve out at the end. I just back my return and very happy with that and now onto the next.”

De Minaur has reached consecutive major quarter-finals, having fallen to Alexander Zverev in the last eight at Roland Garros. He will aim to go one step further and reach his first Grand Slam semi-final when he takes on Novak Djokovic or Holger Rune on Wednesday.

Last month, De Minaur won his second grass-court tour-level title in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. With his run to the quarters in west London, he has climbed one spot to sixth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin. The Australian is aiming to make his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals in November.

Fils was competing in the fourth round at a major for the first time. The World No. 34 moved past Dominic Stricker and Hubert Hurkacz before he survived in five sets against Roman Safiullin.