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Alex de Minaur's aspirations of reaching the ATP Finals semi-finals are hanging by a thread 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 being unable to close out the match, allowing the Italian to remain in the tournament and now leaving the Australian needing to convincingly beat 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 least of de Minaur's immediate concerns as the Sydneysider concedes he must confront the mental demons that risk undermining his career.

A unsuccessful competitor of all six of his major tournament quarter-final appearances, the twenty-six-year-old was unable to disguise his distress after suffering yet another high-stakes near miss with his tournament fate in his own hands.

"I don't know how many times I can handle a loss like this one," de Minaur stated in Turin. "I must talk to my team and try to resolve these issues because these are issues that can't keep happening."

Career Crossroads

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

Describing his feelings as "very bleak", de Minaur bemoaned a succession of final set collapses in 2025 and said he must discover methods to win the close matches.

Recent Setbacks

The Australia No 1's run of crushing losses 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
• Final four in Monte Carlo against Musetti
• Wasted two-set lead against Bublik at the French Open
• Defeated in a third-set tiebreaker to Andrey Rublev in the Doha semi-finals

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

Immediate Solution Needed

"It's something that if it isn't resolved, it's going to consume me completely. I need to get it sorted sooner rather than later."

Upcoming Challenge

De Minaur and Fritz are tied at five wins each in past meetings, though the sixth-ranked American emerged victorious in their matchup in this showpiece event last year.

The Australian's chances remain flickering after Fritz suffered a 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 6-3 defeat to Carlos Alcaraz that ensured the Spaniard would advance to the semi-finals as the winner of the Jimmy Connors group.

Tournament Implications

The world No 2's victory, having already knocked over de Minaur, put Alcaraz a single victory away of securing the year-end top ranking from Jannik Sinner.

Regardless 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 anxiety play a bad time in the match. I will think about my goals, about performing much better than today."