Lorenzo Musetti advances to Australian Open semi-finals, will face Djokovic next | ATP Tour

australian open

Musetti completes senior semi-finals to win Australian Open title for Djokovic

No. 5 seed breaks head-to-head tie with Fritz at Lexus ATP

January 26, 2026

Lorenzo Musetti defeated fellow top-10 star Taylor Fritz at the Australian Open on Monday as the Italian reached his fourth Grand Slam quarter-final and first in Melbourne.

With excellent court coverage and outstanding shooting ability, Musetti secured a berth in the quarterfinals of four Grand Slams with a 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 victory at Rod Laver Arena.

Musetti’s career best results in every Grand Slam

*Positive

“I think today [my serve] “I played really well,” said Musetti, who hit 13 aces and won 84 percent of his first-serve points. “I think it was one of the best ace performances of my career so far, so I’m really, really happy.

“While I ended pretty late last season, the goal this year was to get off to a good start because I never got past the first week here. Reaching the final in Hong Kong, winning the doubles in Hong Kong [with Lorenzo Sonego] Now to be in the quarter-finals, for me, it’s really a dream. “

The fifth seed will clash with record 10-time champion Novak Djokovic, who reached the quarterfinals after Czech Jakub Mencic withdrew with an abdominal muscle injury. Djokovic leads Musetti 9-1 in the Lexus ATP Head2Head Series and will make it six straight wins against the Italian on Wednesday.

Musetti showed no obvious signs of fatigue under the afternoon sun two days after his four-hour, 27-minute five-set match with Tomas Machak. Musetti spread his shoulders and dictated play from the baseline, knocking down 33 winners and drawing Fritz’s mistakes with his heavy topspin forehand.

The American struggled to get his usually reliable serve out of the way early on, finishing the first set with a 42 percent first-serve hit rate, according to Infosys Stats. Although Fritz found more rhythm as the match progressed, he was unable to make headway on the return (break point 0/2).

With the score at 3-2 in the second set, Fritz put K-tape on the left and right slash areas and asked the physical therapist for help. Musetti, a two-time tour-level champion, broke Fritz at 5-5 after the set, giving him a two-set advantage on serve. Musetti broke Fritz again in the first game of the third set and made a stunning move, sealing the victory after 2 hours and 3 minutes. Musetti kept his cool on serve and hit three deft little shots to save love.

“My serve has definitely improved a lot, especially being more aggressive on the forehand and trying to use my changes to lead the match,” Musetti said when asked about the improvements he’s made on hard courts. “Like today, the forehand was trying to open up the court and get the opponent moving. I think before, I started hitting it too far and I was a little too passive in the face-off.

“My coaches always tell me to be aggressive and go for it and get a lead in rallies. That’s what I did today.”

Musetti will compete for a career-high No. 5 in the PIF ATP rankings this fortnight. Last year, he won a career-best 45 tour-level matches and competed in the year-end Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. With the latest win, Musetti improves his record to 4-3 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Fritz, who defeated the Italian in Turin in November. The Italian’s victory marked his first hard-court victory over Fritz.

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Lorenzo Musetti defeated Fritz 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals for the first time.@Australian Open | #AO26 pic.twitter.com/DYXdTDropk

— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 26, 2026