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The Australian tennis star's hopes of reaching the ATP Finals semi-finals are hanging by a thread after a gut-wrenching three-set loss to Italian opponent Lorenzo Musetti.

Crushing Defeat in Turin

The seventh-ranked player went down 7-5 3-6 7-5 after failing to serve out the match, allowing the Italian to stay alive in the event and now forcing the Australian needing 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 least of de Minaur's pressing worries as the Sydney native concedes he must address the psychological barriers that risk undermining his career.

A unsuccessful competitor of all six of his grand slam quarter-final appearances, the 26-year-old was unable to disguise his distress after suffering yet another high-stakes near miss with his finals destiny in his own hands.

"I'm uncertain how many times I can deal with a loss like this one," de Minaur said in Turin. "I must talk to my team and try to sort out these issues because these are issues that cannot continue occurring."

Professional Turning Point

"Essentially, if I really want to be genuine about taking the next step in my career, these matches, I can't lose them. I just can't. It seems as if I've lost a lot of them this year. Most importantly, it's reaching a point where mentally it's destroying me."

Characterizing his feelings as "very bleak", de Minaur lamented a succession of third-set slip-ups in 2025 and said he must discover methods to win the close matches.

Recent Disappointments

The top-ranked Australian's run of crushing losses include:

• Recent 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-5) result against Alexander Bublik at the Paris Masters
• Tightly-fought US Open quarter-final loss 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 continue investing everything into these matches," de Minaur said. "Whenever the outcome isn't positive, it's hard to keep persevering."

Immediate Solution Needed

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

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 showpiece event last year.

The Australian's chances remain flickering after Fritz experienced 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 winner of the Jimmy Connors group.

Championship Consequences

The second-ranked player's victory, having already knocked over de Minaur, put Alcaraz within one win of securing the year-end top ranking from Jannik Sinner.

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

"I'll attempt not to think about it," commented Alcaraz. "This will represent a extremely important match for me. I will try not to let the anxiety play a negative role in the match. I will concentrate on my goals, about performing much better than today."