LYON — Italy’s former world No. 5 Lorenzo Musetti lifted his first ATP title since 2022 on Sunday as he beat American Taylor Fritz, 6-3, 6-4, in the final of the 250 event in Lyon.
It was a third career title on the main tour for the 24-year-old, following victories four seasons ago in Hamburg and Naples, and brought an end to a seven-match losing streak in tournament showpieces.
In a dominant 81-minute performance in southeast France, Musetti secured two breaks of serve early in each set and forced his second-seeded opponent into 28 unforced errors.
The routine victory stood in juxtaposition to Musetti’s grinding route to the final, in which the sixth seed had to show great physical resilience to beat France’s Luca Van Assche in a three-and-a-half-hour marathon in the quarter-finals, as well as a lengthy last-four success against his compatriot Fabio Cobolli in which he saved four match points.
“The spirit of fight was the key for this tournament,” Musetti said.
“I had an incredible attitude. I have to say thanks to my team ... Today I felt more relaxed inside my head and my tennis was more fluid and it was a great performance.
“It is such a dream I don’t want to wake up.”
In Ningbo, world No. 1 Elena Rybakina won her fourth title of an outstanding season with a ruthless straight-sets victory over Leylah Fernandez in the Ningbo Open final on Sunday.
The top seed and defending champion cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 win in 73 minutes over the world number 30 from Canada.
Rybakina, the Australian and US Open champion, collected her 15th WTA crown in all and went a long way towards securing the year-end No. 1 ranking.
“Thank you all you guys for an amazing atmosphere,” the Moscow-born Kazakh said in her victory speech to the crowd.
“Every day it’s amazing to play in front of you. It gives a lot of motivation and energy to keep on going.
“A second win here, it’s such a special place for me.” AFP
SAINT-DENIS, France — Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers knew a protective slide was out of the question when he scrambled on a key fourth-quarter play in New Orleans territory Sunday.
The 42-year-old left the pocket on third-and-6 and picked up 8 yards before being tackled just before the two-minute warning to help Pittsburgh seal a 16-10 victory in the NFL’s first regular-season game in France.
“Sometimes you’ve got to suck it up and make a play for your guys,” Rodgers said. “I think because I am so much less athletic than I used to be, it actually fires up the guys even more.”
Rodgers threw a touchdown pass — the 540th of his career, moving past Peyton Manning for third in NFL history — and Chris Boswell kicked three field goals at Stade de France.
Jaylen Warren rushed for 101 yards on 18 carries and Rodgers completed 19 of 30 passes for 212 yards as the Steelers (5-2) won their third straight game.
Linebacker Payton Wilson had a red-zone interception of Tyler Shough in the third quarter and the Saints (2-5) couldn’t recover. New Orleans rushed for just 18 yards.
