Davidovich Fokina Reaches Second Monte-Carlo Masters Semifinal In Three Years

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
Alejanadro Davidovich Fokina (photo: ATP Tour video)

MONTE-CARLO/WASHINGTON, April 11, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who reached his first ATP Tour final at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters three years ago in 2022, looked to advance to his third ATP Masters 1000 semifinal on Friday. The relentless Spaniard from Malaga has learned from his 2022 experience in the Principality that by being able to control his actions off the court, he can control his emotions on the tennis court.

“Today, it has proved [the progress] I have made this year,” the calm and consistent Davidovich Fokina said after his 6-3, 6-2 quarterfinal victory over No. 27 Alexei Popyrin of Australia in 69 minutes on Court Rainier III, which advanced him to his third ATP Tour semifinal this season.

“I’ve improved as a person, my maturity,” Davidovich Fokina said during his on-court interview with ATP Media. Another thing that has improved is his win-loss record, which has risen to 18-8, and with it, his PIF ATP Live Ranking is up 12 spots to No. 30. Last year, Davidovich Fokina finished with a disappointing 18-22 win-loss record.

Arguably, the 25-year-old Davidovich Fokina is a better person, a better player today – as it has shown in his three semifinal trips in 2025 at Delray Beach, Acapulco and Monte-Carlo. He’s also strung together solids wins this week at the Monte-Carlo Country Club over 11th-seeded American Ben Shelton, Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina and No. 5 seed Jack Draper of Great Britain – and now Popyrin.

The 42nd-ranked Davidovich Fokina, who became just the second Monte-Carlo semifinalist ranked outside the Top 40 this decade, after he reached the last four in 2022 ranked 48th, withstood nine aces and 17 winners from Popyrin, and won 81 percent of his first-serve points. He faced no break points on his serve, converted three of nine chances and outpointed his opponent 62-42. Davidovich Fokina kept his unforced errors in check with just 13, while benefiting from the 33 made by Popyrin.

“He is a good server and has a huge forehand. I think his weakness is more his backhand,” Davidovich Fokina said of Popyrin’s strengths and weaknesses. “I tried my best to play to his backhand. Today was not his day.”

Alcaraz goes the distance, prevails over Fils

Now, it’s on to the semifinal round Saturday for Davidovich Fokina and an all-Spanish against No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz, whose gutsy comeback enabled him to beat No. 12 seed Arthur Fils of France, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, in two hours and 23 minutes before a capacity crowd that filled Court Rainier III.

Alcaraz relied upon his powerful forehand shots to get him out of trouble several times. He saved a trio of break points at 5-all (from love-40) in the second set, then prevailed in the end after being a break down (1-3) in the final set.

“I just wanted to stay strong and wait for my chances,” Alcaraz said during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “I think his level is high right now and he puts a lot of pressure on his opponents. Today, I could feel it but, in some moments, he just made a few mistakes and I tried to make the most of those points and wait for my chances. The second set I saved those break points and then made the only break point I had that set.

“In the third set I was just trying to play good tennis. When I was a break down, I just tried to keep going, play aggressively and be strong mentally and physically – and wait for my chances.”

By the conclusion, Alcaraz had compiled 18 winners to 41 unforced errors, compared to 23 winners and 53 unforced errors by Fils. Alcaraz converted five of 14 break points and was broken four times in 11 attempts. The victory improved his 2025 win-loss record to 18-4.

The 21-year-old Spaniard and 20-year-old Frenchman combined to present the youngest Monte-Carlo quarterfinal since 2008. Alcaraz remained undefeated against youngest opponents (6-0) and by winning today, he tied Jannik Sinner for most ATP Masters 1000 semifinals (10) among players born since 2000. He’s also through to his first clay-court semifinal at the Masters 1000 level since winning the Mutua Madrid Open title in 2023 and his 10th ATP Masters 1000 semifinal overall. Alcaraz has previously won five Masters 1000 titles.

With his victory over Fils, Alcaraz is now 15-1 on clay since last May after winning the 2024 Roland-Garros title and winning the silver medal at the Paris Olympics. If he should go on to win the Monte-Carlo title, he would pass Alexander Zverev for World No. 2 on Monday. If not, he will remain World No. 3.

“I have missed clay,” Alcaraz admitted. “It is good to play the drop shot and it is a shot I use a lot and feel comfortable using. In matches like this I won almost every drop shot I hit and it gives me more confidence.”

De Minaur makes quick work of Dimitrov

World No. 10 Alex de Minaur met World No. 18 Grigor Dimitrov for the sixth time – and for the fourth time, the Australian No. 1 prevailed, 6-0, 6-0, in just 44 minutes on Court Rainier III. He was not in the mood for any charity, as ATP commentator Mikey Perera said on the World Feed broadcast of the quarterfinal match.

Instead, De Minaur was all business in winning his second consecutive straight-set match, while Dimitrov was low on energy after a week in which he had been extended to three sets in each of his last two matches.

Now, De Minaur (20-6 this season) becomes the third player from Australia to reach the Monte-Carlo semifinals, following John Newcombe in 1969 and John Alexander in 1979.

“It’s an amazing feeling, I mean, especially with the troubles I had at start of my career on this surface, I didn’t understand it, how to play well on the surface,” de Minaur said of his double-bagel triumph, in his on-court interview with ATP Media. “As the years have gone by, it’s great to understand the things I can do well on this surface to beat a tough opponent. I’m very happy I’m playing better and better every year.”

Friday’s victory extended de Minaur’s ATP Tour-leading total to 20 and he’s through to his third ATP Tour semifinal on clay, following earlier successes at Barcelona and Lyon, both in 2022. The loss prevented Dimitrov (12-7) from reaching his third Monte-Carlo semifinal (2018, 2022) and second ATP Masters 1000 semifinal this year after Miami. De Minaur improved to 5-13 on clay by hitting eight winners to just eight unforced errors. He won 75 percent of his first-serve points, faced no break points and converted six of eight break points. De Minaur outpointed Dimitrov 48-15.

What has de Minaur learned about succeeding on clay? “Clay-court tennis is not about hitting hard, powerful shots. It’s a lot about opening up the court, using a lot of variety, using angles, using five different speeds and understanding the balance between being too aggressive and too passive,” he said.

Musetti upsets defending champion Tsitsipas

On Saturday, de Minaur will face World No. 16 and 13th seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy. Musetti upset defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, a three-time title winner in the Principality who was seeded sixth and playing in his fifth-straight Monte-Carlo quarterfinal, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, in two hours and 21 minutes Friday evening on Court Rainier III.

Musetti, who was playing in just his third ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal after Paris in 2022 and Monte-Carlo in 2023, has reached his first semifinal at this level. He finished with 23 winners to 32 unforced errors, compared to 24 winners and 45 unforced errors for Tsitsipas. The Italian No. 2 converted three of six break pints and saved 14 of 17 break points. He outpointed Tsitsipas 96-91.

“Today was a really tough match. I knew that before today I never beat him and we played five times. Especially on clay, I knew against a three-time champion, definitely not an easy job today,” said Musetti during his on-court interview with ATP Media, after achieving his ninth Top-10 win. “I found a way and I was increasing during the whole match. Really, really happy and proud of this win.”

Around the Monte-Carlo Country Club

Coming into Friday’s doubles quarterfinal round, three of the top-4 seeded teams remained in contention for this year’s title.

Top seeds and co-World No. 1s Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia needed a match tie-break to defeat the ad-hoc team of singles stars Alex de Minaur of Australia and Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany, 6-3, 3-6, 10-2.

No. 2 seeds Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Henry Patten of Great Britain, the reigning Australian Open champions, advanced over alternates Rafael Matos of Brazil and Jordan Vliegen of Belgium, 6-1, 3-6, 10-5, and, in arguably the best match on paper, No. 4 seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz of Germany were upset by No. 7 seeds Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool of Great Britain, 6-4, 6-2.

The other quarterfinal was won by wild cards Romain Arneodo of Monaco and Manuel Guinard of France, who went the distance to defeat Rohan Bopanna of India and Ben Shelton of the United States, 6-2, 4-6, 10-7.

In Saturday’s semifinals, Arneodo and Guinard will face Heliovaara and Patten, while Cash and Glasspool will play Arevalo and Pavic.

Friday’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters results

Saturday’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters order of play

By the numbers

With his 50th career ATP Masters 1000 victory on clay Thursday evening, Stefanos Tsitsipas is tied for fourth among active players with Grigor Dimitrov. First is Novak Djokovic with 137 wins, followed by Stan Wawrinka with 64, and Alexander Zverev with 61.

“Quotable …”

“I know I have scored good wins here and played some good tennis. I want to come back onto this court and do more and accept the new challenges. I am just trying to take it match by match. I want to create way more memories on this court and I want to play better tomorrow against Lorenzo, who is a great clay-court player.”

– Defending Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters champion Stefanos Tsitsipas, during his on-court interview with ATP Media Thursday after advancing to the quarterfinal round against Lorenzo Musetti of Italy.

Search

Brigitte Urban
Tennis photographer
camera lens

International Blogs

Dietmar Kaspar

TC Großhesselohe geht mit strategisch verstärktem Meisterkader ins Jubiläumsjahr

April 8, 2025

Marc Raffel

Zum 11. Mal ATP Tennis an Rhein & Ruhr in Meerbusch

March 28, 2025

Florian Heer

Arzel Mevellec über die Entwicklung des Rwanda Challenger: „Wir lernen jedes Mal dazu!”

March 5, 2025

Podcast

Categories