Carlos Alcaraz overcame a partisan home crowd to battle past Lorenzo Musetti 6-3 7-6 and book his place in the Italian Open final.

World No 3 Alcaraz, who saw off Britain's Jack Draper in the last eight, had built on an early break in the opening game to comfortably take the first set in just under an hour.

Italian Musetti, though, regrouped for the start of the second set - lifted by the vocal support on Campo Centrale as Alcaraz started to struggle in the windy conditions.

Musetti, who had been beaten by the Spaniard over three sets in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters last month, soon converted two breaks as he moved into a 3-1 lead.

Alcaraz, though, dug in to claw back to 4-4 with a break of his own before holding to leave Musetti serving to stay in the match.

The Italian, who knocked out Daniil Medvedev and then defending champion Alexander Zverev on his way to the semi-finals, was able to hang on to force a tie-break.

However, Alcaraz's range and power proved decisive as he took a second match point with another fine cross-court forehand.

"It was a tough match today, he has come through qualifying playing good tennis, so I knew it would be tough," Alcaraz said.

"I was trying to get my energy up a little bit from the start. I was a bit flat today, but I thought I did a really good job of competing hard throughout the match, and he definitely came out in the second.

"I am human, it's tough being mentally and physically on for the last three weeks. It's not easy, especially if you go deep.

"It's really tough to stay there mentally every point, and I got a bit frustrated, but I managed to come through and I'm proud of it.

"I need to make sure my standards don't drop, keep my body injury-free, and just try and do the right things."

Alcaraz will face either Italy's Jannik Sinner, making his return from a three-month doping ban, or American Tommy Paul in Sunday's final.

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