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Alex de Minaur's aspirations of advancing to 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 being unable to close out the match, allowing the Italian to remain in the tournament and now leaving the Australian requiring to convincingly beat Taylor Fritz in his third and final group match to reach the semi-finals.

Psychological Challenges Threaten Career

But confronting Fritz in two days' time is the least of de Minaur's immediate concerns as the Sydneysider admits he must confront the psychological barriers that risk undermining his career.

A unsuccessful competitor of all six of his major tournament quarter-final appearances, the 26-year-old was unable to disguise his anguish after experiencing yet another crucial opportunity slipping away with his tournament fate in his own hands.

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

Professional Turning Point

"I mean, if I truly desire to be serious 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 been defeated in a lot of them this year. Most importantly, it's getting to a point where psychologically it's killing me."

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

Recent Setbacks

The Australia No 1's run of devastating defeats include:

• Latest 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
• Semi-final in Monte Carlo against Musetti
• Wasted two-set lead against Bublik at the French Open
• Lost in a third-set tiebreaker to Andrey Rublev in the Doha semi-finals

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

Urgent Resolution Needed

"This is an issue that if it isn't resolved, it's going to eat me alive. I must 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 meeting in this showpiece event last year.

The Aussie's hopes remain alive after Fritz experienced a 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 6-3 defeat to Carlos Alcaraz that guaranteed the Spaniard would progress to the semi-finals as the victor of the Jimmy Connors group.

Tournament Implications

The second-ranked player's win, having already defeated de Minaur, put Alcaraz a single victory away of claiming the year-end top ranking from Jannik Sinner.

Even 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 unbeaten 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 nerves play a bad time in the match. I will concentrate on my goals, about performing much better than today."