Lorenzo Musetti reaches Australian Open QFs, next to face DJokovic | ATP Tour

The Australian Open

Musetti completes a massive QF set, winning the match against Djokovic at the Australian Open

The fifth seed breaks the Lexus ATP Head2Head tie with Fritz

January 26, 2026

Lorenzo Musetti defeated Top-10 star Taylor Fritz on Monday at the Australian Open, with the Italian reaching his first quarter-final and first in Melbourne.

Combining exceptional court coverage with his shooting, Musetti secured a 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 victory inside the Rod Laver Arena to close out a set of quarter-final appearances in four Slams.

Score Musetti’s Best Work in Each Major

*It works

“I’m thinking today [my serve] I was working really well,” said Musetti, who hit 13 aces and scored 84 points in the first century.

“When I finished the last season very late, my goals were to start well this year, because I had never made it past the first week here. [with Lorenzo Sonego] and now to be in the quarter-final, for me, it’s really a dream.”

The fifth set up a clash with 10-time champion Novak Djokovic, who reached the Last 8 after Czech Jakub Mensik withdrew with a hamstring injury. Djokovic leads Musetti 9-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, including six straight wins.

Two days removed from playing a four-hour, 27-minute five-set battle against Tomas Machac, Musetti showed no obvious signs of fatigue under the afternoon sun. Musetti opened his shoulders and dictated the play from the start, smashing 33 winners and using his front heavy top to draw mistakes from Fritz.

American struggled early to get its often-trusted service up and running, finishing the first set with 42 percent of first-timers, according to Infosys Stats. Although Fritz found more rhythm behind his delivery as the match progressed, he was unable to get in on the return (0/2 on break points).

Sporting k-tape on both his left and right obliques, Fritz called the physio 3-2 in the second set. Musetti, a two-time tour number one, broke Fritz to love 5-5 later in that set, allowing him to serve for a two-set advantage. Musetti broke Fritz again in the opening game of the third set and rarely looked back, winning after two hours and three minutes. Musetti was cool in the build-up to the match, firing three times on his way to love.

“I definitely improved my performance a lot and especially I try to be aggressive by going forward and trying to use my change to lead the game,” said Musetti when asked about the changes he made to improve on hard courts. “Like today, the front is trying to open up the field and make the opponents move. I think before, I was starting to play too far and I wasn’t paying attention in the circle.

“My coach is always telling me to be aggressive and try to just hold my own, take the lead in this meeting. That’s what I did today.”

Musetti competes at a career-high No. 5 in the PIF ATP Rankings over the two days. Last year, he posted a career-best 45-match tour-level match award and competed in the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. With his latest win, Musetti improved to 4-3 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Fritz, who defeated the Italian in Turin in November. The victory in Italy marked his first victory on a difficult field against Fritz.

Here to stay 😤

Lorenzo Musetti defeated Fritz 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the first time.@Australian Open | #AO26 pic.twitter.com/DYXdTDropk

– ATP Tour (@atptour) January 26, 2026