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AFP, MONTE CARLO
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Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday cruised into the Monte Carlo Masters quarter-finals for the first time with a straight-sets win over Daniel Altmaier.
British fifth seed Jack Draper was knocked out by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, while Lorenzo Musetti won an all-Italian duel against a limping Matteo Berrettini. Alexei Popyrin saved match points as he beat last year’s runner-up Casper Ruud and eighth-seeded Alex de Minaur dismantled ninth seed Daniil Medvedev in two sets.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz brushed aside 84th-ranked German Altmaier 6-3, 6-1 to set up a last-eight clash with rising French star Arthur Fils.
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz returns to Daniel Altmaier of Germany in their Monte Carlo Masters men’s singles match in Roquebrune Cap Martin, France, on Thursday.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“His [Fils’] level is really high right now,” Alcaraz said. “I saw a little bit from his match today and he’s playing great.”
Alcaraz took some time to find his rhythm as Altmaier broke back to level at 3-3 in the first set, but it was one-way traffic from then on.
The second seed reeled off three straight games to take the first set before racing through the second in just over half an hour.
“At the beginning of the match, we played really long and tough rallies, really close games,” Alcaraz said.
The 21-year-old, the reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion, is the favorite to lift the title this weekend after early exits for top seed Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic.
Alcaraz lost in his first match on his only previous appearance at the tournament in 2022.
Fils eased into his third successive Masters quarter-final with a 6-2, 6-3 thrashing of 2023 champion Andrey Rublev.
The 20-year-old is aiming to reach the semis of a Masters event for the first time, after losing in the last eight at both Indian Wells and the Miami Open this year.
“If it’s him, it’s going to be the first time I’m going to play him,” Fils said of meeting Alcaraz. “It’s going to be a good experience. He’s a big champion. He won four Grand Slams already. I didn’t win a single one.”
Draper lost in three sets to Spaniard Davidovich Fokina.
Draper, who won the Indian Wells title last month, slipped to a 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-4 loss as he failed to reach a first Masters quarter-final on clay.
Davidovich Fokina edged a hard-fought opening set which featured three breaks of serve.
Draper let three break points slip away in the ninth game, with Davidovich Fokina taking his second set point.
In the second set, Draper saved a match point and then leveled the contest in a tiebreak.
In a topsy-turvy third set, both broke twice inside the first six games.
Davidovich Fokina delivered the decisive blow in the 10th game to secure his first win over a top-10 opponent on clay since 2023.
Davidovich Fokina was to take on Australian Popyrin in the quarter-finals.
Popyrin, the world No. 27, beat Ruud 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 after saving two match points at 3-5 in the third set.
Musetti, seeded 13, beat Davis Cup teammate Berrettini 6-3, 6-3 and then talked of “the difficulty of playing a friend, a mate, a teammate.”
“This is a special court for me and also for Matteo. We share a lot of moments here in Monte Carlo where we live,” Musetti said. “Definitely one of the toughest challenges for me.”
World No. 10 De Minaur crushed former US Open champion Medvedev 6-2, 6-2.
“I’m finding my feet on clay,” Australian De Minaur said. “It’s taken me a while in my career. I can be dangerous on this surface.”
