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The 22-year-old Spaniard earned a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) semi-final triumph amid testing conditions that included wild winds and a wildly partisan crowd as well.

“Today was a really difficult day with the conditions, the wind was tough to play with,” Alcaraz said.

“It wasn’t about playing brilliant, spectacular tennis. It was about playing smart tennis, playing solid, going to the point when you can, and waiting for the chance to play aggressively. I think I did that pretty well, I stayed strong mentally when things didn’t go to my side.”

Musetti was unable to channel the vocal crowd and spark a memorable comeback.

“Today was a tough day for me,” the Italian said. “I entered the court with such a great mentality. But then afterwards, after the first point, I started to struggle with keeping that attitude that I showed in the past months, in the past week, that helped me to come back from various situations and from various difficult moments of the last matches.”

After also defeating Musetti in the Monte-Carlo final, Alcaraz now leads their head-to-head 5-1.

The No.3 seed lost two consecutive games at 4-1 in the opening set, and was forced to rally from 2-4 in the second after Musetti rode wave of the crowd's support.

After working his way to a 6-5 lead, Alcaraz let a match point slip on return but held firm in a nervy tie-break to advance to the final on his second appearance in the Italian capital.