Alcaraz overcomes Fils as Monte Carlo titleholder Tsitsipas crashes out

MONACO (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz won from behind against Arthur Fils while defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas was bundled out in the Monte Carlo Masters quarterfinals on Friday.

World No. 3 Alcaraz was five points from defeat in the second set, and 3-1 down in the deciding set, but pulled through 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 after 2 1/2 hours.

Fils, playing his third straight Masters quarterfinals, let off Alcaraz no thanks to 53 unforced errors.

“I have missed clay,” Alcaraz said.

Preparing for his French Open title defense, he's into his first Monte Carlo semifinals, an all-Spanish affair against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the 2022 runner-up.

They haven't met on tour in two years.

Davidovoich Fokina beat Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-2.

Tsitsipas couldn't understand why it all went wrong against Lorenzo Musetti. The Monte Carlo champion in 2021, 2022 and 2024 had a perfect 5-0 record against Musetti and took their first set on Friday 6-1.

But from that point Tsitsipas' serve evaporated. He made less than half of his first serves, only eight of 28 in the last set. One of his seven double faults put him down 4-3 in the last set. Musetti won the last two sets 6-3, 6-4.

“It's difficult to accept,” Tsitsipas said. “I mean, feeling so confident playing on this court and not being able to win a match that I felt I kind of had every reason to ... is definitely heartbreaking.”

Musetti cried when he won.

He'll face Alex de Minaur, who reached his first semifinals on clay in three years after drubbing Grigor Dimitrov 6-0, 6-0.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis