Musetti outlasts Berrettini in Napoli cup
Lorenzo Musetti planned a pizza celebration after landing his second title of 2022 by seeing off Matteo Berrettini in an all-Italian final at the Napoli Cup.
The 20-year-old, who won his first ATP Tour trophy on clay in Hamburg in July, scored a 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 victory over an injury-hampered opponent.
After defying advice from his team to abandon his semi-final on Saturday, Berrettini, bothered by a foot problem, showed up for Monday's title match and generally moved well but could not prevent Musetti getting his hands on the trophy.
Musetti's win at the hard court event saw him match Berrettini – twice a champion during the grass season – on two titles this year.
They are the only Italians with multiple ATP singles titles in 2022, with Musetti now increasingly close to joining compatriots Berrettini and Jannik Sinner inside the top 20.
This win nudges him a place to number 23 in the rankings, a new career-high position, and it made Musetti the ninth player on the men's tour to win a tournament this year without dropping a set at any point.
Speaking in an on-court ATP interview, Musetti said: "It was a really tough first set. Really long and we never broke.
"Matteo is a competitor; even if he was not 100 per cent physically, his capacity to stay until the end, to fight until the end, was a big problem for me to solve.
"Today I think I played not the best tennis, because I think we were both really emotional, really nervous and there was a lot of tension, but in the important moments I played better.
"It's really nice to be here with my family, with the crowd, and it's a really big win for me and an important moment for my career.
"I hope to enjoy and celebrate with great pizza. I will probably enjoy a Pizza Margherita for sure, like Napoletana."
