Plastic sheets cover the field during a thunderstorm prior to the start round of sixteen match between Jannik Sinner and Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo at the Italian Open tennis tournament in Rome,

Musetti, playing in front of a passionate Italian crowd, saved multiple set points and captured the opener in a tense tiebreak. Zverev’s visible irritation grew in the second set, with his outburst toward the umpire drawing attention and potentially affecting his focus during critical moments.

The world No. 1 was rusty on his first match back after three months away. His Italian Open draw means he cannot afford to be so for long.

China's Zheng Qinwen stuns world number one Aryna Sabalenka 6-4 6-3 to set up an Italian Open semi-final against Coco Gauff.

Zheng, meanwhile, remained unfazed by the drama and maintained her focus, edging closer to a potential breakthrough title.

In the women's draw, Coco Gauff will be hoping to follow up her thumping win over Raducanu by beating Mirra Andreeva, while Aryna Sabalenka faces a similarly tricky test against Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen.

May 15 - Zheng Qinwen finally got her first win over Aryna Sabalenka at the seventh attempt to reach the Italian Open semi-finals on Wednesday and the Olympic champion said she had perhaps shown the world number one too much respect in their prior meetings.

On Wednesday evening, Qinwen Zheng defeated Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets of the Italian Open quarterfinal: 6-4, 6-3. It was Zheng's first win against Sabalenka in seven attempts, and Sabalenka lost her cool with a fan during the intense match.

Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski and partner Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are out of the Italian Open women's doubles tournament after a 6-2, 4-6, 11-9 quarterfinal loss to Russians Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider on Wednesday.