Musetti survives Koepfer scare in Stuttgart

Lorenzo Musetti reached his third tour-level grass-court quarter-final on Wednesday at the BOSS OPEN, where he clawed past Germany’s Dominik Koepfer 6-7(9), 7-6(5), 6-3.

The fifth-seeded Italian failed to convert five set points in the first set and then rallied from 3/5 in the second-set tie-break to stay alive in Stuttgart. He struck 15 winners in the third set to advance after two hours and 49 minutes.

“It was a really, really tough match,” Musetti said. “We saw two hours and a half of really good tennis. Dominik was playing really, really well... We were fighting until the end and I am really proud of myself.”

With his 13th win of the season, Musetti levelled his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Koepfer at 1-1. The No. 30 player in the PIF ATP Rankings also reached the quarter-finals in Stuttgart last year and will aim to go one step further this week when he next plays Alexander Bublik after the third seed defeated the 2023 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF champion Hamad Medjedovic 6-1, 7-6(4).

Bublik, who fired 18 aces against Medjedovic, clinched the biggest title of his career last season on grass at the ATP 500 in Halle.

Defending champion Frances Tiafoe continued his title defence with a 7-5, 7-6(5) win against German Yannick Hanfmann.

Tiafoe, who beat Struff in the title match last year to win his third ATP Tour crown, saved all 11 break points he faced according to Infosys ATP Stats to triumph after one hour and 55 minutes.

The fourth-seeded American holds a modest 13-12 record on the season. He will hope he can rediscover his best level this week on the German lawns, where he next takes on Jack Draper.

Into the quarter-finals 🔥@jackdraper0 knocks out Giron 6-4 3-6 6-3 to advance in Stuttgart 💪@boss__open pic.twitter.com/RQoLapgkze

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 12, 2024

Draper defeated Marcos Giron 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to advance to his 11th tour-level quarter-final (5-5) and his third on grass. The 22-year-old is making his Stuttgart debut after previously reaching two grass-court quarter-finals on home soil at The Queen's Club (2021) and Eastbourne (2022).