Maestro Musetti carves Tiafoe win to reach French Open semi-finals

PARIS :Italian craftsman Lorenzo Musetti used his full palette of shots to decorate Court Philippe Chatrier with blistering baseline winners, beating American Frances Tiafoe 6-2 4-6 7-5 6-2 to reach the French Open semi-finals for the first time on Tuesday.

Despite a few muddled moments, the world number seven set up a meeting with either defending champion Carlos Alcaraz or Tommy Paul of the U.S. as he continues his renaissance after some soul searching.

Musetti, who said he put some order in his mind and game, did not let frustration take the best of him after losing the second set and once he found his groove, there was no stopping him as 15th seed Tiafoe gradually lost the plot, twice arguing with the chair umpire over line calls.

He bowed out with yet another routine shot into the net, his 'Big Foe' neck chain dripping with sweat as a testimony of the battle just fought.

"Definitely Frances did not start the way he wanted but today was really complicated, it was so windy and difficult to mange to properly hit the ball," said Musetti, the only man to reach at least the semi-finals of every main claycourt event this season.

"The third set was a fight and even if I was a little tired I found the extra energy to win this set and the last set was probably the best set of this match."

Musetti is one of the rare top players using the single-handed backhand, a vintage shot often praised by tennis connoisseurs.

"We are Italian, we are elegant," he joked.

"Joke aside, I have a little bit of a retro style."

Earlier, and in front of mostly empty seats around lunchtime four-time champion Iga Swiatek, looking to become the first woman in the professional era to win the title four times in a row, beat Elina Svitolina 6-1 7-5 to set up a