🔗 Share this article

Alex de Minaur's aspirations of advancing to the ATP Finals last four are dangling by a slender margin after a heartbreaking three-set loss to Lorenzo Musetti.

Crushing Defeat in Turin

The seventh-ranked player succumbed 7-5 3-6 7-5 after being unable to close out the match, keeping the Italian to stay alive in the event and now forcing the Australian requiring to decisively defeat Taylor Fritz in his third and final group match to qualify for the semi-finals.

Mental Demons Threaten Career

But confronting Fritz in 48 hours is the smallest of de Minaur's pressing worries as the Sydney native concedes he must confront the psychological barriers that threaten to cruel his career.

A loser of all six of his grand slam quarter-final appearances, the twenty-six-year-old was couldn't hide his distress after experiencing yet another high-stakes near miss with his finals destiny in his own hands.

"I don't know how many times I can deal with a loss like this one," de Minaur said in Turin. "I must talk to my team and try to sort out these problems because these are issues that can't keep happening."

Professional Turning Point

"Essentially, if I really want to be serious about taking the next step in my career, these matches, I can't lose them. I just can't. It seems as if I've lost a lot of them this year. Most importantly, it's reaching a point where psychologically it's destroying me."

Describing his feelings as "quite dark", de Minaur bemoaned a succession of final set collapses in 2025 and said he must discover methods to win the close matches.

Recent Disappointments

The top-ranked Australian's streak of devastating defeats comprise:

• Latest 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-5) result against Alexander Bublik at the Paris Masters
• Tightly-fought US Open quarter-final loss to Felix Auger-Aliassime
• Semi-final in Monte Carlo against Musetti
• Wasted two-set lead against Bublik at the French Open
• Defeated in a third-set tiebreaker to Andrey Rublev in the Doha semi-finals

"I continue investing everything into these matches," de Minaur commented. "When the outcome isn't positive, it's hard to keep pushing through."

Immediate Solution Needed

"This is an issue that if it doesn't get sorted, it's going to consume me completely. I need to get it sorted sooner rather than later."

Upcoming Challenge

De Minaur and Fritz are 5-5 in past meetings, though the American world No 6 won their matchup in this showpiece event last year.

The Aussie's hopes remain alive after Fritz suffered a 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 6-3 defeat to Carlos Alcaraz that guaranteed the Spaniard would progress to the semi-finals as the victor of the Jimmy Connors group.

Tournament Implications

The world No 2's win, having already defeated de Minaur, put Alcaraz within one win of securing the season-ending top ranking from Jannik Sinner.

Even if he is defeated by Musetti in his last round-robin contest, Alcaraz will regain the world No 1 ranking except if Sinner, who defeated Auger-Aliassime in his first match on Monday, goes unbeaten to retain his ATP Finals title.

"I will try not to focus on it," commented Alcaraz. "It's going to be a extremely important match for me. I will try not to let the anxiety play a negative role in the match. I will concentrate on my objectives, about feeling much better than today."