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Alex de Minaur's hopes of advancing to the ATP Finals semi-finals are dangling by a slender margin after a gut-wrenching three-set loss to Lorenzo Musetti.

Crushing Defeat in Turin

The world No 7 went down 7-5 3-6 7-5 after failing to serve out the match, allowing the Italian to stay alive in the tournament and now forcing the Australian requiring to decisively defeat Taylor Fritz in his third and final group match to reach the semi-finals.

Mental Demons Threaten Career

But confronting Fritz in 48 hours is the smallest of de Minaur's immediate concerns as the Sydneysider concedes he must confront the mental demons that risk undermining his career.

A loser of all six of his major tournament quarter-final appearances, the 26-year-old was unable to disguise his anguish after suffering yet another crucial opportunity slipping away with his tournament fate in his own hands.

"I'm uncertain how many times I can handle a loss like this one," de Minaur stated in Turin. "I just have to talk to my team and try to sort out these issues because these are issues that can't keep happening."

Professional Turning Point

"I mean, if I really want to be genuine about advancing to the next level in my career, these matches, I must win them. I just can't. It seems as if I've lost a lot of them this year. Most importantly, it's getting to a point where mentally it's killing me."

Describing his emotions as "quite dark", de Minaur lamented a series of third-set slip-ups in 2025 and said he must discover methods to win the close matches.

Recent Setbacks

The top-ranked Australian's run of devastating defeats include:

• Latest 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-5) result against Alexander Bublik at the Paris Masters
• Tightly-fought US Open quarter-final defeat to Felix Auger-Aliassime
• Semi-final in Monte Carlo against Musetti
• Wasted two-set lead against Bublik at the French Open
• Lost in a third-set tiebreaker to Andrey Rublev in the Doha semi-finals

"I continue investing everything into these matches," de Minaur commented. "Whenever the outcome isn't positive, it's hard to keep persevering."

Urgent Resolution Needed

"It's something that if it isn't resolved, it's going to eat me alive. I need to get it sorted quickly rather than delayed."

Forthcoming Test

De Minaur and Fritz are 5-5 in past meetings, though the American world No 6 emerged victorious in their matchup in this prestigious tournament last year.

The Aussie's hopes remain alive after Fritz suffered a 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 6-3 loss to Carlos Alcaraz that guaranteed the Spaniard would progress to the semi-finals as the victor of the Jimmy Connors group.

Championship Consequences

The world No 2's victory, having already defeated de Minaur, put Alcaraz within one win of securing the year-end top ranking from Jannik Sinner.

Even if he is defeated by Musetti in his last round-robin contest, Alcaraz will reclaim the world No 1 ranking unless Sinner, who beat Auger-Aliassime in his first match on Monday, goes undefeated to retain his ATP Finals title.

"I'll attempt not to think about it," said Alcaraz. "It's going to be a extremely important match for me. I will try not to let the nerves play a bad time in the match. I will concentrate on my objectives, about performing much better than today."