Kamil Majchrzak knocks out second seed Lorenzo ​Musetti from Tata Open Maharashtra

By PTI

PUNE: Kamil Majchrzak pulled off the second big upset of the tournament by knocking second seed Lorenzo Musetti out of the Tata Open Maharashtra with a three-set win, here on Friday.

Returning extremely well and using the drop shots quite effectively, the 95th ranked Polish player eked out a 6-2 7-6(5) 6-4 win over the world number 66 in two hours and 13 minutes to advance to the semifinals.

The top seed and world number 15 Aslan Karatsev has already exited the event after defeat in the second round at the hands of qualifier Elias Ymer.

Musetti faced a breakpoint in the sixth game after going up 40-15 and dropped serve when his cross court forehand went wide.

It was the Polish player’s returns along with excellent court coverage that opened up the opportunity.

Majchrzak came out serving next game at love to lead 5-2.

Serving to stay in the set, the young Italian began with a forehand error and ended with a backhand error.

The unforced errors continued to flow from Musetti’s racquet as he was trying too hard but he managed to hold his serve in the beginning of the second set, coming out with two big serves at 30-all.

Majchrzak, though, was not only returning well he also came out serving extremely well to keep the match under his control.

Serving at 2-3 and up 40-30, Musetti served a double fault but returned well to win the deuce point but again unforced error made it back to deuce.

Musetti got his first break opportunity in the next game when he found a passing single backhand winner at 30-all but netted the forehand on next point to let go of advantage.

In the absence of a break, the second set went into a tie-breaker, in which Musetti led 4-2.

Soon he had three set points.

He spoilt the first two but Mazchrzak double faulted on the third to make it one-set all.

The Italian teenager managed to contain his unforced errors and also served well in the decider.

Serving first, he stayed ahead, holding his serves comfortably.

Majchrzak also kept it simple and apart from his huge serves, his use of drop shots to cut short points and intermittent charge at the net was pretty impressive.

In the ninth game, at 30-30, Musetti hit a backhand long to face first break chance of the third set but used his backhand slices well to stave off the danger.

Majchrzak returned a backhand on far right of Musetti to earn another break chance, which was converted when the Italian made a return error.

Serving for the match, the Polish player saved two break chances with serve and volley before closing the match with a back hand volley winner on his third match point.