Only one of Saturday’s two semifinal matches at the ATP Lyon Open has been set. Rain has forced the quarterfinal match between Arthur Rinderknech and Cameron Norrie is in a third set, and will be finished Saturday morning. The winner of that match will face Karen Khachanov in the second semifinal. The first semi, though, will feature tournament favorite Stefanos Tsitsipas against rising youngster Lorenzo Musetti? Who do you think will win?
ATP Lyon Open Semifinal Prediction
Lorenzo Musetti vs Stefanos Tsitsipas
The teenage Musetti needed a withdrawal to get into the tournament, but he has made the most of it. After some Challenger success last year, the Italian is now ready to make waves on tour.
Can he do it against Stefanos Tsitsipas, the heavy favorite for the title here? That will be everyone’s question, but I’m not overly confident in the Greek. Tsitsipas was incredible a month ago to win the title in Monte-Carlo, and he followed that with another run to the final in Barcelona, where he fell to Rafael Nadal. (There’s definitely no shame in losing to Nadal on clay, and Tsitsipas kept it relatively close.) Since then, the Greek has posted somewhat underwhelming results in the two Masters 1000 events in Madrid and Rome, though neither was particularly poor.
At the end of the day, Tsitsipas is more talented and better on this surface. Musetti, though, has the game that could trouble him, and based on this week, will take full advantage of every opportunity that Tsitsipas leaves him. Will it be enough to win the match? It definitely might, but I think it’s the slightly less likely possibility.
Prediction: Tsitsipas in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
