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After entering the Hamburg European Open as the top seed, Carlos Alcaraz is through to the final with defeats of Nicola Kuhn, Filip Krajinovic, Karen Khachanov and Alex Molcan. In doing so, the World No. 6 became the first player to reach three ATP 500 finals before turning 20 years old. Interestingly, all three have come in claycourt tournaments.
This is Alcaraz's fifth final of 2022 and third in an ATP 500 tournament. The Spaniard won the Rio Open and the Barcelona Open this year, beating Diego Schwartzman and Pablo Carreno Busta respectively in the finals.
Carlos Alcaraz will face Lorenzo Musetti in Hamburg European Open final
Carlos Alcaraz will face Lorenzo Musetti in the final of the Hamburg European Open. The Italian reached his maiden ATP final by beating an in-form Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6(3) in the semifinals.
The match between Alcaraz (19 years and 70 days) and Musetti (20 years and 143 days) will be the youngest ATP Tour final since the title clash at the 2005 Swedish Open, which was contested by Rafael Nadal (19 years and 37 days) and Tomas Berdych (19 years and 296 days).
Musetti is one of the few precocious talents on the ATP tour, but has won only 17 out of 33 matches this season. The Italian has produced some promising performances that include reaching the quarterfinals of the Rotterdam Open and the last 16 of the Masters 1000 tournaments in Monte Carlo and Madrid.
He also managed to win against the likes of Hubert Hurkacz and Felix Auger-Aliassime, while pushing Stefanos Tsitsipas to five sets at the French Open.
Musetti and Alcaraz will lock horns for the first time in their careers and it will be interesting to see how the contest unfolds. While the Spaniard will enter the match as the favorite to win, the Italian should not be written off.
Alcaraz will win his sixth ATP title and will become the youngest champion in Hamburg if he wins on Sunday. If Musetti comes out on top, he will clinch his maiden ATP title.
