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Alex de Minaur's aspirations of reaching the ATP Finals last four are dangling by a slender margin 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, keeping the Italian to remain in the event and now leaving the Australian requiring to convincingly beat Taylor Fritz in his last group match to qualify for the semi-finals.

Psychological Challenges Threaten Career

But facing Fritz in 48 hours is the smallest of de Minaur's pressing worries as the Sydney native admits he must address the mental demons that risk undermining his career.

A unsuccessful competitor of all six of his grand slam quarter-final appearances, the twenty-six-year-old was couldn't hide his distress after experiencing 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 sort out these problems because these are challenges that cannot continue occurring."

Career Crossroads

"I mean, if I truly desire to be genuine about advancing to the next level in my career, these contests, I must win them. I just must not. It seems as if I've lost a lot of them this year. More than anything, it's reaching a point where mentally it's destroying me."

Describing his feelings as "quite dark", de Minaur lamented a series of third-set slip-ups in 2025 and said he must find a way to win the close matches.

Recent Setbacks

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

• Recent 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
• Semi-final in Monte Carlo against Musetti
• Squandered 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 commented. "When the result's not there, it's difficult to keep pushing through."

Urgent Resolution Needed

"It's something that if it doesn't get sorted, it's going to consume me completely. I need to get it sorted quickly rather than delayed."

Upcoming Challenge

De Minaur and Fritz are tied at five wins each in previous encounters, though the American world No 6 emerged victorious in their matchup in this prestigious tournament last year.

The Aussie'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 progress to the semi-finals as the victor 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 claiming the year-end top ranking from Jannik Sinner.

Even if he is defeated by Musetti in his final group match, Alcaraz will regain the world No 1 ranking unless Sinner, who defeated Auger-Aliassime in his first match on Monday, goes undefeated to defend his ATP Finals title.

"I will try not to focus on it," commented Alcaraz. "This will represent a extremely important match for me. I will try not to let the nerves play a bad time in the match. I will concentrate on my objectives, about performing much better than today."