Musetti Into the Round of 16: Zheng Beaten in Seventy Minutes

Lorenzo Musetti beat American Michael Zheng 6-1, 6-3 in an hour and ten minutes in the third round of the Cincinnati Masters 1000, and will face the winner of Faria-Walton.

The No. 10 seed broke serve to open the match and closed out the first set 6-1. In the second, he raced to a 4-0 lead with two more breaks, let one of them slip, and then closed out the match with a winning return. Musetti won 79% of points on his first serve and 64% on his second, and Zheng was rarely able to take control of the rally.

For the 22-year-old from Chesapeake, ranked No. 110, this marks the end of his first run in a Masters 1000 main draw. Coming through qualifying, he had picked up his first wins at this level against Fabian Marozsan and Ugo Humbert. A two-time NCAA singles champion with Columbia, where he graduated in psychology in May, he had never faced Musetti before today.

The Italian, ranked No. 13 in the world, missed Roland Garros and Wimbledon with a left rectus femoris injury sustained in Rome in May. His comeback is gathering steam in Cincinnati: after beating Daniel Altmaier 6-4, 6-2 in the opener, these are his first back-to-back wins in a single tournament since returning in Washington, both without dropping a set.