It’s the all-or-nothing match at the Olympics. Win and you secure a medal, lose and you are off the podium along with 60 other participants.
That is the pressure facing Lorenzo Musetti and Felix Auger-Aliassime on Saturday in Paris, where they will battle for bronze in men’s singles. This marks their sixth encounter, with Auger-Aliassime leading the head-to-head series 3-2. However, Musetti has won two of their three clay-court meetings–including two in a row (7-6(3), 3-6, 7-5 at the 2021 Lyon tournament and 6-2, 7-6(2) at the 2022 Monte-Carlo Masters).
The 16th-ranked Italian has been outstanding this summer. He was runner-up at Queen’s Club, made a surprising run to the Wimbledon semifinals, and posted another runner-up showing in Umag. Musetti booked a semifinal spot at these Games by beating Gael Monfils, Mariano Navone, Taylor Fritz, and Alexander Zverev before falling to Novak Djokovic on Friday.
This season has been a different story for Auger-Aliassime, who salvaged his ranking (currently 19th) with a trip to the Madrid final (lost to Andrey Rublev) but has otherwise struggled. Similar to the Madrid Masters, though, from out of nowhere the Canadian is playing well at the Paris Olympics. He reached the semis with wins over Marcos Giron, Maximilian Marterer, Daniil Medvedev, and Casper Ruud before getting double-breadsticked by Carlos Alcaraz. Auger-Aliassime also captured the bronze medal in mixed doubles on Friday with compatriot Gabriela Dabrowski.
It has been a busy week for Auger-Aliassime and he already seemed to be running out of gas against Alcaraz. Even if FAA is 100 percent, Musetti is the far more in-form and confident player in this matchup.
Pick: Musetti in 2
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