Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner remained on a collision course with history-making victories in Friday’s quarterfinals at the Monte-Carlo Masters.
Alcaraz cruised to a 6-3, 6-0 victory over No. 8 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in 63 minutes. It was the 300th career win for the top-seeded Spaniard, who is the defending champion of the clay-court event in Monaco.
Sinner advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 win against No. 6 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in 92 minutes. The second-seeded Italian has won 20 straight matches at the Masters 1000 level, a streak matched by only Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic since 1990.
Saturday’s semifinals will see Alcaraz take on home hopeful Valentin Vacherot, who outlasted No. 5 Alex de Minaur of Australia 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in two hours and 24 minutes. Sinner will meet No. 3 Alexander Zverev of Germany, who held off Brazil’s Joao Fonseca 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-3 in two hours and 40 minutes.
Alcaraz, 22, reached 300 wins in just 367 ATP Tour-level matches. He tied John McEnroe for the third-fastest to the milestone in the Open Era, trailing only Rod Laver (355) and Jimmy Connors (363).
“I was playing aggressively and I played a great and solid match against a player that you don’t know what they will produce next,” said Alcaraz, who extended his winning streak on clay to 16 matches. “I am happy to get through and to play another semifinal here.”
Sinner saved the only break point he faced against Auger-Aliassime and finished with an 18-13 edge in winners while winning 75% of his service points.
“It was a very tough match,” Sinner said. “I knew I had to get better in certain areas. The serve is not there yet, where I would love it (to be), but all things considered I’m very happy.
Vacherot saved a whopping 13 break points in his quarterfinal win against de Minaur, becoming the first Monaco native ever to reach the semifinals of the tournament.
“It is such an honor to be part of the semifinals with the three best players of the past few years.” Vacherot said. “I can’t wait to play Carlos tomorrow in my hometown, it is amazing.”
It was the third three-set victory of the week for Vacherot, who had the support of the crowd in the principality as he saved all six break points he faced in the decisive final set.
“All the guys in the crowd chanting, they are my best friends from when I was nine, 10 years old,” Vacherot said. “It is rare for a player to have this chance to have this many people around. The members sat in the boxes. I am so lucky to have a tournament in my club.”
–Field Level Media
