- Musetti has an 11-2 winning record on grass this year
- Musetti has won more receiving points on first and second serve than any other player at Wimbledon 
- Recommended bet: Lorenzo Musetti to win

Lorenzo Musetti and Taylor Fritz will battle it out for a place in the Wimbledon semi-finals on Wednesday.

Neither man has ever made it beyond the last eight in a Grand Slam event with the Italian reaching this stage for the first time in his career and Fritz having failed to win each of his three previous quarter-finals. 

Musetti beat big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the fourth round, having previously dispatched Constant Lestienne, Luciano Darderi and Francisco Comesana.

Fritz came back from two sets down to knock fourth seed Alexander Zverev out on Monday after recording victories over Christopher O’Connell, Arthur Rinderknech and Alejandro Tabilo in the first week.

The winner of this quarter-final will be rewarded with a semi-final clash against either Alex de Minaur or seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic.

The stats

Musetti beat De Minaur in the first round at Queen’s Club, where he made it to the final before losing to another Wimbledon quarter-finalist — Tommy Paul.

The Italian’s record on grass this year is 11-2 — a vast improvement on his career win ratio of 65% on the surface.

Fritz has won 61% of his matches on grass as a professional, but the American’s record on turf is 10-1 in 2024.

Four of his last seven singles matches at SW19 have gone to five sets with Fritz prevailing in two and losing two — one of which was a quarter-final to Rafael Nadal two years ago.

Prediction

Fritz has a greater All England Club pedigree because of his performance in 2022 when he beat Musetti in the first round before bowing out to Nadal in the quarter-finals.

But the Italian is much improved on grass this year and finally appears to be ready to make a Wimbledon breakthrough of his own.

The 22-year-old has always possessed the shot-making ability to test the best, which he showed when beating Djokovic in Monte Carlo last year.

His success at SW19 this year has come on the back of a brilliant return game with no player having won more points on their opponent’s first or second serve.

This clash will be a classic match-up of an excellent server against a great returner with Fritz capable of hitting first serves in excess of 136 miles per hour. 

The American was only broken once by Zverev in their five-set fourth-round clash, but the German later cited his lack of mobility from a knee injury as a reason for his defeat.

Fritz was keen to extend points against the No.4 seed, who later admitted he gave up chasing drop shots, but he faces a very different problem in Musetti.

The Californian’s coach admitted that his charge will need to be more aggressive and hinted at finishing the points sooner so as not to get caught out by Musetti’s craftsmanship from the back of the court.

It should be a compelling contest with the Italian in with a great shout of pulling off the upset as long as he maintains his effective return of serve. 

Back Lorenzo Musetti to win at 17/5 with LiveScore Bet.