HERE COMES CARLOS: Alcaraz rips Altmaier, makes Monte Carlo quarters

MONTE CARLO, Principality of Monaco (AFP) — Carlos Alcaraz cruised into the Monte Carlo Masters quarterfinals for the first time on Thursday 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.

Elsewhere, Alexei Popyrin saved match points as he beat 2024 runner-up Casper Ruud and eighth-seeded Alex de Minaur dismantled ninth seed Daniil Medvedev in straight sets.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has won the tournament in three of the last four years, brushed aside Nuno Borges. Grigor Dimitrov ended the day by overcoming Alejandro Tabilo.

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 on Friday.

“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 added.

The 21-year-old, the reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion, is the favourite 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 quarterfinal with a 6-2, 6-3 thrashing of 2023 champion Andrey Rublev.

The 20-year-old Fils 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 quarterfinal 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 levelled the contest in a tie-break.

In a topsy-turvy third set, though, 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 will take on Australian Popyrin in Friday’s quarterfinals.