Lyon Open 2021: Sebastian Korda vs Lorenzo Musetti preview, head-to-head & prediction
Match details
Fixture: Sebastian Korda vs Lorenzo Musetti
Date: 19 May 2021
Tournament: Lyon Open 2021
Round: Second round (Round of 16)
Venue: Lyon, France
Category: ATP 250
Surface: Red clay
Prize money: €419,470
Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Eurosport
Match timing: 10.30 am local time, 8.30 am GMT, 4.30 am EST, 2 pm IST
Sebastian Korda vs Lorenzo Musetti preview
Sebastian Korda had a great start to the year. He first reached the final at Delray Beach, defeating the likes of John Isner and Tommy Paul along the way. The American then made a quarterfinal run at the Miami Masters, where he beat Fabio Fognini, Aslan Karatsev and Diego Schwartzman consecutively.
Korda's clay season, however, has been dismal so far. Until this week, the 20-year-old hadn't registered a single win on the red dirt for the year.
Korda did, however, pick up a confidence-boosting win over local favorite Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the first round on Tuesday. He will now be looking for a deep run this week so that he can go into Roland Garros - where he reached the fourth round last year - in some kind of form.
But Korda faces a stern test in the second round, in the form of talented teenager Lorenzo Musetti.
Lorenzo Musetti burst on to the scene in Rome last year, where he reached the third round from qualification. Since then the Italian has steadily risen up the rankings; he is now perched at No. 83.
Musetti's most remarkable result came in Acapulco this year, where he defeated Diego Schwartzman, Grigor Dimitrov and Frances Tiafoe to reach the semifinals.
The 19-year-old's clay season began in Cagliari, where he reached the quarterfinals. Musetti has had a win-loss of 4-4 since then, and he comes into the second round high on confidence after a 7-6(3), 3-6, 7-5 victory over Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Sebastian Korda vs Lorenzo Musetti head-to-head
The second round encounter in Lyon is the first professional meeting between Sebastian Korda and Lorenzo Musetti, so their head-to-head currently stands at 0-0.
Sebastian Korda vs Lorenzo Musetti prediction
Both Sebastian Korda and Lorenzo Musetti are emerging players on the ATP tour, hungry to make a mark in the lead-up to Roland Garros. That makes their second-round encounter a particularly hard one to call.
Musetti has form in his favor, and is also the more comfortable player on clay. The Italian's technical ability has been hailed as being far beyond his years; he has a very solid all-round game and a spectacular single-handed backhand with which he can rip winners for fun.
Korda, on his part, will look to use his big serve and powerful forehand to deploy his aggressive style of play. The American is great at redirecting pace, but he does also have a tendency to leak a few errors when he assumes the role of the aggressor.
Musetti is more comfortable on the surface, and his shot selection gives him the ability to dictate the pace of the match. If he can keep his error-count low and use his variation to keep Korda on his toes, he should be able to make it to the quarterfinals.
Prediction: Lorenzo Musetti to win in three sets.