Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
Carlos Alcaraz huffed and puffed his way into the Monte Carlo Masters semi-finals with a 4-6 7-5 6-3 victory against local favourite Arthur Fils, who will be ruing his missed chances as holder Stefanos Tsitsipas was knocked out on Friday.
Four-times Grand Slam champion Alcaraz had to sweat but made the most of his opponent’s errors in the key moments to set up a semi-final against fellow Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who beat Australia’s Alexei Popyrin in straight sets.
Lorenzo Musetti recovered from a shaky start to beat sixth seed Tsitsipas 1-6 6-3 6-4 after the Greek served a handful of double faults, unable to finish it off when he had the upper hand.
The Italian 13th seed will play Australian Alex de Minaur, who wasted no time downing Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who lost 6-0 6-0 after 44 minutes with a staggering 23 unforced errors.
Fils made a blistering start against world number three Alcaraz, surging to a 3-0 lead with two early breaks.
Alcaraz fought back to retrieve one break and had four chances to level in the fourth game, but Fils held firm.
The Spaniard eventually drew level at 4-4, only for Fils to break once more and move ahead 5-4 in a rollercoaster set.
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