Dramatic opening set decided by tiebreak
It was a contest between two players at very different stages of their careers – and it began in the tightest possible fashion. Lorenzo Musetti, seeded eleventh and granted a bye into the second round, faced Nicolás Mejía at the ATP Masters 1000 in Montreal – a player who had fought his way through qualifying to reach the main draw. The Colombian was anything but an unknown quantity: armed with two Challenger titles in the 2026 season and a career ranking that had climbed more than 100 places to a personal best of 129 within a single year, Mejía arrived on court brimming with confidence.
The opening set reflected that. For the best part of 80 minutes the two players traded blows in a grinding baseline battle, neither man able to break the other's serve. Musetti was dominant on his own serve, holding in every service game – and when no break materialised, the tiebreak was called upon to settle matters. There, the Italian showed nerves of steel: he claimed the first set 10-8 and, with it, the decisive early advantage in the match.
Musetti shifts into a higher gear in the second set
The narrow tiebreak result left its mark – but only on one side of the net. While Musetti maintained his level and at times raised it further, Mejía showed visible signs of fatigue. The second set became a statement of intent: Musetti converted his break points with clinical efficiency, while Mejía failed to turn a single break point into a service break of his own – his break point conversion rate finished at zero per cent.
The statistics tell a clear story. Musetti won 100 per cent of his service games, landed 68 per cent of his first serves and won 73 per cent of his service points. Mejía, by contrast, served three double faults and won just 62 per cent of his service points. The second set ended 6-2 to Musetti – a scoreline that left no room for ambiguity about the balance of power.
A historic moment Mejía will not forget
The final score reads 7-6, 6-2 to Lorenzo Musetti, who wrapped up the match in two hours and seven minutes to advance to the third round. For the Italian, currently working his way back to full fitness after a muscle injury and having reached the quarterfinal in Washington most recently, this run into the round of 16 is further evidence of a return to consistent form.
Nicolás Mejía exits the tournament, but he can do so with his head held high. The 26-year-old from Bogotá had already made history in the first round: as only the sixth Colombian player to win a match in the main draw of a Masters 1000 event – and the fifth to do so at the first attempt – Mejía set a milestone in his career in Montreal. His first meeting with Musetti on the ATP Tour did not go his way, but the trajectory of his journey on tour points unmistakably upward.
