Musetti ends cenutry-long wait for Olympic medal
An Italian tennis player claimed an Olympic medal for the first time in 100 years after Lorenzo Musetti beat Felix Auger-Aliassime to win bronze in the men's singles at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Musetti, who was beaten by Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, prevailed 6-4 1-6 6-3 at Roland Garros.
It marked an 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 Australia's gold medal winners Matthew Ebden and John Peers in the semi-finals, the American duo dusted itself 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, the team 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.