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 success over the week by blasting past Italian 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 ruthless 'Demon' looked on the cards at the Monte Carlo Country Club.
But with the rain beginning to niggle away, de Minaur's magic spell began to desert 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) after two hours 38 minutes of high-quality fare.
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.
But de Minaur may well look back on his defeat as a real missed opportunity as he bossed so much of the early stages of the match after his brilliant week, and ended up leaving Mone Carlo without the jackpot of his first tournament triumph at Masters 1000 level.
That remains 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.
