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The Italian relied on his home crowd, lifting his level as they raised their support, en route to a 7-6(1), 6-4 victory, his second win against a Top 2 player in the ATP rankings.

In a bid to keep the second seed off balance, Musetti played 20 drop shots, winning 15, throughout the hard fought, two-hour, 15-minute battle which featured many absorbing and physically draining points. Excitement spilled over throughout the Foro Italico as fans watched the evening battle, often 'shushing' one another mid-rally.

"Full crowd, full stadium, and that's a big advantage. All this week there has been incredible support from the fans," said Musetti, who is No. 8 in the ATP live Rankings, set for a new career high and a Top 8 seed at Roland Garros. "I felt the adrenaline and energy from the first point, even if it was not an easy start, but I managed to come back and find a way, and that's the key of this match."

The 23 year-old fought off three consecutive set points on return at 5-4, 40/0 in the first set and saved another set point later that game. Musetti built momentum, winning 11 of 12 points through 5/0 in the opening-set tie-break.

Musetti played with variety, forcing Zverev to constantly adjust and preventing him from seeing the same ball twice. The eighth seed was especially effective with his forehand drop shot, which won him nine points alone in the opening set, including back-to-back points in the tie-break.

"Of course it was part of the strategy, to try to make things complicated for Sascha because he's such a good ball [striker]," Musetti said. "Especially when he stays a little bit far from the baseline, I took the chance to drop sometimes and it was working well because the court — with the humidity of the night — was not bouncing much."

Musetti will next look to avenge his Monte-Carlo final loss to third seed Carlos Alcaraz. The home favourite holds a 20-6 season record.