Atp Finals: Musetti's magical night in comeback over De Minaur. Today Sinner-Zverev

That's the way it is with Lorenzo Musetti: he plunges into hell and then rises again, on the verge of tears, like those that shone in his eyes for a victory, his first at the Atp Finals, which he brought home no one knows how: even the loser, world number 7 Alex De Minaur, wondered about it, constantly leading in the third set, with his service game to close.... and instead it ended 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 for the Carrara player, with the explosion of the Inalpi Arena flooding him with applause and chants of 'Olé olé Muso Muso'. So Lorenzo, who came to Turin to replace Diokovic, is still in the running in the round, even if on Thursday he has a prohibitive challenge with Carlos Alcaraz (who won a tight and spectacular match with Taylor Fritz yesterday).

The match was an exciting one. The Italian started aggressively and determined from the back, with his trademark - the wonderful one-handed backhand - to support the pressing against the Australian, who was very foul, especially with his forehand. In the second set, however, Musetti failed to exploit three break points in the first game and then progressively slowed down, conceding more and more space to his opponent and finding himself in an increasingly backward and defensive position. From 4-3, De Minaur was in command, winning the set 6-3 and taking a 2-0 lead in the third before a visibly tired and exhausted Musetti. His body language spoke volumes and did not bode well. Yet Lorenzo managed to hang on to the match, with that break disadvantage and De Minaur always dominating (he had a 4-1 ball).

When he seemed to have no energy left - "I can't take it any more", he shouted to his corner - the comeback began, one point at a time: he regained depth, followed his serve to the net when he could, a few errors by De Minaur did the rest and from 5-3 he went 5-3. The Australian suddenly found himself chasing until it was too late to do so, overtaken by a running forehand pass from Musetti. Who, mad with joy, rushed to embrace his team and partner Veronica.

For Lorenzo, 23, it is confirmation of a quantum leap in mental toughness and the ability to suffer without giving up, as he himself said at the end of the match: 'A year ago I wouldn't have won a match like that.

Tonight in the other round it is Jannik Sinner's turn who will face Alexander Zverev, with whom he is playing for the third time in less than a month: he beat him easily in the semifinals in Paris (but the German had a physical problem) and just before that in a hard-fought final in Vienna.