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

Devastating Loss in Turin

The world No 7 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 forcing the Australian requiring to convincingly beat Taylor Fritz in his last group match to reach the semi-finals.

Psychological Challenges Threaten Career

But confronting Fritz in 48 hours is the smallest of de Minaur's pressing worries as the Sydneysider admits he must address 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 couldn't hide his anguish after suffering yet another high-stakes near miss with his tournament fate 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 resolve these problems because these are challenges that cannot continue occurring."

Professional Turning Point

"Essentially, if I really want to be genuine about advancing to the next level in my career, these matches, I must win them. I just can't. It feels like I've lost a lot of them this year. More than anything, it's getting to a point where mentally it's killing me."

Describing his feelings as "very bleak", de Minaur bemoaned a series of final set collapses in 2025 and said he must discover methods to win the tight encounters.

Recent Setbacks

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

• Recent 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-5) outcome 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
• Squandered 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 hard to keep persevering."

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 sooner rather than later."

Upcoming Challenge

De Minaur and Fritz are tied at five wins each in previous encounters, though the sixth-ranked American won their meeting in this showpiece event last year.

The Aussie'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 advance to the semi-finals as the victor of the Jimmy Connors group.

Championship Consequences

The world No 2's victory, having already knocked over de Minaur, put Alcaraz a single victory away of claiming the season-ending 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 defeated Auger-Aliassime in his first match on Monday, goes unbeaten to retain his ATP Finals title.

"I will try not to focus on it," commented Alcaraz. "It's going to be a extremely important match for me. I will try not to let the anxiety play a bad time in the match. I will think about my objectives, about feeling much better than today."