Musetti 1-2 Van Assche: a four-point margin decides Paris

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Ninety-four points to ninety. One game, 16 to 15. That is the entire margin on which Luca Van Assche moved into the Paris quarter-finals, outlasting Lorenzo Musetti in a Round of 16 where the loser out-aced the winner and still left beaten 1-2 (5-7, 6-3, 4-6).

Set one was decided by patience rather than dominance. Van Assche manufactured five break points and converted two; Musetti created one and took it, while fending off three others. Four aces kept the Italian's serve honest, but the extra break settled it at 5-7. Return numbers told the same story: Van Assche won 14 return points, Musetti just 7.

Musetti answered emphatically in the second. He won 18 of 24 return points, broke Van Assche twice and never faced a break point himself, levelling at 6-3. The decider offered no such generosity: Van Assche faced two break points and saved both; Musetti faced one and saved none. One break, 6-4 — with Van Assche holding serve on 23 of 32 points in the set.

Musetti did the flashy things better. Ten aces to six, a single double fault against three, 66% of first serves landed to 57%, and 36 return points won to 29. None of it converted into the tie that mattered most on serve. Van Assche won 65 service points to 54 and guarded his delivery with five saves from eight break points, against six faced and three saved for Musetti. Both men converted three breaks; where and when those conversions landed decided everything.

Aces decorate a scoreline, break points write it. In Paris, Van Assche kept the pen.