Rafael Jodar came from a set down to beat fourth seed Lorenzo Musetti 1-6 6-1 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the Mubadala DC Open in Washington, securing a place in the last four of the ATP 500 event after one hour and 59 minutes on court.
The 22-year-old Spaniard recovered from a ragged opening set in which he had struggled to keep his game together. The 6-1 scoreline flattered Musetti: the two central games of the set, the fourth and the fifth, took almost 20 minutes and 30 points, with nine break points shared between the pair. Musetti wasted a 0-40 chance on Jodar's serve at 2-1, converted his sixth break point of the game when the Spaniard double-faulted, survived three break points against him in the following game, three of Jodar's 23 unforced errors of the set, and moved clear at 4-1.
Jodar emerged a different player after the change of ends. He won the first seven points of the second set, broke for the lead with a deep backhand that forced a Musetti error, and cut his unforced errors from 23 to four. Musetti's points won on first serve dropped from 86 to 56 per cent, Jodar lost just one point behind his own delivery, and the set was level inside half an hour.