Musetti ends Italy's cenutry-long wait with victory over Auger-Aliassime

By Sports Desk August 03, 2024

Lorenzo Musetti beat Felix Auger-Aliassime to win bronze in the men's singles at the Paris Olympics.

Musetti, who was beaten by Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, prevailed 6-4 1-6 6-3 on Saturday at Roland-Garros.

It marked a historic success for Italy, bringing up the nation's first tennis player to win a medal at the Olympics since Uberto de Morpugo in 1924, with those Games having also taken place in Paris.

While Auger-Aliassime leaves empty-handed from the singles, he did win bronze in the mixed doubles.

Prior to Musetti's triumph, Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz won in straight sets to claim the bronze medal in the men's doubles, beating Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek.

After falling to defeat to eventual gold medallists Matthew Ebden and John Peers in the semi-finals, the American duo dusted themselves down to claim a 6-3 6-4 victory.

Paul and Fritz controlled the opening set, earning a double break in the sixth game and, despite losing the next two, held on to take the early advantage. 

The Americans squandered three match points to seal the win, but confirmed their place on the podium in the 10th game, with Team USA taking home two medals from the doubles after Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram's silver earlier in the day. 

It was not all doom and gloom for Czechia, though, with Machac and Katerina Siniakova having claimed gold in the mixed doubles on Friday.

 

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