Fucsovics stuns World No. 5 Musetti in Indian Wells, Shelton survives major scare
Marton Fucsovics earned just his second Top 5 win and first in nearly six years on Friday at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where he stunned World No. 5 Lorenzo Musetti 7-5, 6-1.
Musetti was competing for the first time since he was forced to retire from his Australian Open quarter-final against Novak Djokovic with a psoas muscle injury when leading by two sets to love. Returning to the Tour in California, the 24-year-old committed 26 unforced errors and showed signs of rustiness against Fucsovics, who is into the third round in Indian Wells for the second time.
[NO 1 CLUB]The Hungarian played with high intensity and capitalised on a misfiring performance from the Italian to improve to 4-35 against Top 10 opponents, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. Fucsovics’ previous Top 5 win came against Daniil Medvedev at Roland Garros in 2020, with this his first Top 10 victory on a hard court.
The No. 56 player in the PIF ATP Rankings Fucsovics will next meet Arthur Fils after the Frenchman advanced when Croatian qualifier Dino Prizmic retired. Fils, who returned to Tour last month following a back injury, was leading 6-2, 3-2.
In other action, for a large period, eighth seed Ben Shelton appeared on course to join fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti in an early exit from the ATP Masters 1000 event. However, the 23-year-old American staged a comeback to secure a hard-fought 6-7(3), 7-6(4), 6-3 victory against Reilly Opelka.
Shelton came within two points of defeat when he trailed 4/5 in the second-set tie-break. Yet Opelka faltered at the crucial moment, losing both points on his serve to hand Shelton a lifeline. The lefty later took a tumble while serving for the match at 5-3 in the third set, slipping as he hit a volley. Nevertheless, Shelton quickly recovered, regained his composure and eventually sealed the win after two hours and 13 minutes.
The Top 10 star, who advanced to the quarter-finals in Indian Wells last year, will next face Learner Tien. The reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion leads Shelton 1-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
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