WHAT HAPPENED: Before a raucous crowd under the Friday night lights, Brandon Nakashima, 23, pulled himself out of a 0-4 hole in the fourth set to force a tiebreak and advanced to the fourth round of the US Open, after a hot-hot-hot start against Olympic bronze medalist and 2024 Wimbledon semifinalist Lorenzo Musetti, the No. 18 seed from Italy.
Both players were trying to advance to the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the first time in their careers.
Nakashima had won every set this week, including 100% of his service games. But the stoic, powerful American met his match in Musetti, known for his deft touch and style. At just 23 and 22 years old, respectively, their intense and entertaining showdown proved that the two men could make a phenomenal rivalry in the future.
Nakashima started so hot, he leapt to a 4-1 lead over the No. 18 seed. By the end of the first set, the former University of Virginia player had won 25 (of the 39) points played—aided by 14 winners and four aces. He also won 93% of the points on his first serve.
In the second set, Nakashima was broken for the first time in this tournament—but he saved three break points in the game, including the second one with a 125-mph ace. Musetti later went up 4-1 after winning a 31-shot rally to punctuate his own service game. Both players continued to hold, and Musetti closed the set, 6-3.
In a back-and-forth third set, before rowdy crowds—several of whom likely came from the just-concluded Tiafoe-Shelton match—Nakashima went up a break in the eighth game for a crucial 5-3 lead. In the next game, he won the set with a backhand volley that managed to get behind Musetti near the net. Nakashima tallied six more aces and 18 winners in that set, where he also had an 82% first-serve percentage.
In the fourth set, Musetti broke Nakashima twice and took a 4-0 lead, but Nakashima retaliated by winning the next four games. Tied 4-4, Musetti finally held serve after a five-deuce game to take a 5-4 lead. Both players continued to hold serve under boiling-point pressure, and the 6-6 set went to a tiebreak at the three-hour, three-minute mark. Nakashima led the whole way and finally prevailed, 7-4, on points.
WHAT IT MEANS: Nakashima will face either No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev or Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina next in the fourth round.
Nakashima has never beaten either player. One of his two losses to Zverev came in the second round of the 2020 US Open, when the American was 19 and competing in his first main draw in New York. In his lone meeting against Etcheverry, Nakashima lost to the 33-year-old on clay this year in Barcelona.
MATCH POINT: This year marks Nakashima’s fifth consecutive US Open. He also played US Open boys’ singles three times, reaching the second round in 2017, the quarterfinals in 2018 and the semifinals in 2019.
