By Martyn Herman LONDON (Reuters) -Men’s seeds continued to perish at Wimbledon on Tuesday with last year’s semi-finalist Lorenzo Musetti dumped out in the first round by inspired Georgian qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili on Tuesday. Seventh seed Musetti, playing his first match since retiring in the French Open semi-final against Carlos Alcaraz with a leg injury, […]
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Tennis-Musetti becomes latest men’s seed to exit Wimbledon
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By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) -Men’s seeds continued to perish at Wimbledon on Tuesday with last year’s semi-finalist Lorenzo Musetti dumped out in the first round by inspired Georgian qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili on Tuesday.
Seventh seed Musetti, playing his first match since retiring in the French Open semi-final against Carlos Alcaraz with a leg injury, never looked settled against the world number 126 and went down 6-2 4-6 7-5 6-1 on a muggy Court Two.
“Really bad day at the office, I came here at the last minute and of course I didn’t have much good feelings with my game and honestly the physical side and energy and whatever it takes to play a match like this,” he said.
“I was struggling to feel comfortable on the court from the beginning, I was really losing focus and was not really reactive on the ball. Today felt like I had never played on this surface.”
The 23-year-old recovered from a slow start to level the match but Basilashvili, a former top-20 player, raised his game at the end of the third set, breaking serve at 5-6 by winning a stunning rally with a volley into the open court.
Musetti’s resistance withered in a 23-minute fourth set as the 33-year-old Basilashvili earned his first win in a Grand Slam since reaching the Wimbledon third round in 2022 and the first over a top-10 ranked player in a Grand Slam.
Musetti’s limp exit means 10 men’s seeds have already fallen before the conclusion of the first round.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)