Carlos Alcaraz could have easily lost to Arthur Fils in the quarterfinals of the 2025 Monte-Carlo Masters, but then he seems exceedingly difficult to beat in three or five sets. A player has to win set one to give themselves a chance, but needs to play almost perfectly in the second set to win. If it goes three, Alcaraz is going to win.
Fils did not play poorly at any point during the match. He was hitting winners, moving around the court well, and giving Alcaraz issues with his serve. That was until the last five games of the third set. The Spaniard took all those games to win the match 4-6 7-5 6-3. Fils is an ascending player and will move into the top 15 when the new rankings come out, but he isn't Alcaraz. Yet.
While both players' levels were tremendous and their shot-making exquisite, both still made many errors. Fils had 23 winners but 54 unforced errors. Alcaraz was 18 and 41. For the Frenchman to take the next step toward joining Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner as the new faces of tennis, he needs to take advantage of his chances to defeat the top players.
Carlos Alcaraz moves into Monte-Carlo Masters semifinals with a victory against Arthur Fils
Leading 4-3 in the second set, Alcaraz served at love-40, but Fils could not finish the game. After clawing his way back, Alcaraz then got a break. While the match still needed to be decided in the third set, Alcaraz winning the service game at 3-4 appeared to raise his confidence, diminish Fils, and the match seemed decided at that point.
On Saturday, Alcaraz will next play fellow Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the semifinals. We should likely expect another three-set match, and if it goes that far, Alcaraz will win.