Frustrated Alex de Minaur has had the most scorching spell of his career on the clay courts finally doused in the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters in a nail-biting loss to Italian Lorenzo Musetti.

Seeking to become the first Australian since John Newcombe in 1969 to reach the final of the prestigious Masters 1000 event, de Minaur continued surfing on his extraordinary wave of confidence over the week by blasting past Musetti 6-1 in the first set of Saturday's last-four duel.

Following his astounding 'double bagel' 6-0 6-0 quarter-final win over Grigor Dimitrov and his 6-2 6-2 pounding of Daniil Medvedev in the last-16, another swift win for the new-look, self-styled ruthless 'Clay Dog' looked on the cards at the Monte Carlo Country Club.

6-0 6-36-2 6-26-0 6-06-1 ? Musetti ?@alexdeminaur's last seven sets in Monte-Carlo! @ROLEXMCMASTERS | #RolexMonteCarloMasters pic.twitter.com/LUosZEJUgQ? ATP Tour (@atptour) April 12, 2025

After taking the first set 6-1 against Musetti, de Minaur had lost only eight games in his last seven sets in Monte Carlo.

But with the rain beginning to niggle away and causing a short break to play, de Minaur's magic spell deserted him amid a sparkling comeback from Musetti, cheered to the rafters by a huge Italian contingent on Court Rainier III, and the Australian eventually succumbed 1-6 6-4 7-6 (7-4) in two hours 38 minutes.

It meant world No.10 de Minaur missed out on a second final of the year against Carlo Alcaraz - his conqueror in the Rotterdam Open showdown in February - as the Spaniard had earlier defeated compatriot Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 in the other semi.

Musetti reflected afterwards how difficult it had been to break down what he called the "Alex wall" but his patience and determination was rewarded as the Wimbledon semi-finalist made his first Masters final.

But de Minaur will surely look back on his defeat as a missed opportunity as he bossed so much of the early stages, and he still ended up leaving Monte Carlo without the jackpot of his first tournament triumph at Masters 1000 level.

Maybe things would have been different if the rain hadn't forced an interruption of about quarter-of-an-hour at the end of a first set which he'd completely dominated, breaking Musetti's serve four times.

Indeed, such had been de Minaur's excellence on return of serve all week that, amazingly, he'd won 14 successive games on his opponents' delivery throughout the week until Musetti finally held serve at the start of the second set.

Soak it in Lorenzo ???@Lorenzo1Musetti is just the THIRD Italian Monte-Carlo finalist in the Open Era@ROLEXMCMASTERS | #RolexMonteCarloMasters pic.twitter.com/2lX49j8hUB? ATP Tour (@atptour) April 12, 2025

His fightback then in the second stanza set up a thrilling see-saw finale, and de Minaur was still battling away in typical never-say-die fashion when Musetti served for the match at 5-4 in the third only for the Australian to break his delivery for the seventh time.

In the decisive breaker, though, with the scores locked at 4-4, de Minaur was guilty of three straight errors that ensured his wait for that first Masters crown goes on.

That will doubtless remain a frustration for the man who'll rise back up to No.7 or No.8 in the world next week but he must be encouraged by one of his best ever clay-court tournaments, even if he missed out on becoming only the third Australian winner of this event in its venerable 129-year history.

But having jokingly described himself as "Clay Dog" this week after some stellar performances, he really does look comfortable now on the surface following his run to the quarter-finals of the French Open last year.