By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday April 11, 2024
Alex de Minaur became the first Aussie to reach the quarterfinals at Monte-Carlo in 25 years with his win over Alexei Popyrin on Thursday. Read on for more numbers from the round of 16.
Photo Source: Getty
After a thrilling day of tennis (beneath blue skies) in the Principality, the quarterfinals are set at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
With that in mind, let’s look back at the round of 16 and look ahead at the quarterfinals, shall we?
15 – All eight quarterfinalists are seeded in Monte-Carlo, with No.15-seeded Karen Khachanov the lowest-ranked of the octet. Top-seeded Novak Djokovic and second-seeded Jannik Sinner are the only top-5 seeds into the quarterfinals.
8 – Sinner stretches his new winning streak to seven victories with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Jan-Lennard Struff. The Italian continues to run hot in his breakout season, he’s on the heels of winning his second Masters title at Miami, and he improved to 24-1 on the season.
27-1 – Sinner has won 27 of his last 28 matches and 44 of his last 47. He will face Holger Rune in the quarterfinals -- Rune owns a 2-1 lifetime edge over Sinner.
2015 – Novak Djokovic has not won a title in Monte-Carlo in nine years, and the 24-time major champion has not been beyond the quarterfinals since 2015, when he won his last title. Djokovic will seek to remedy that situation on Friday when he faces Alex de Minaur in the quarterfinals.
De Minaur captured the pair’s last meeting, this January at United Cup. They have met only twice, with Djokovic taking their other meeting in straight sets at the 2023 Australian Open.
10 – 2013 and 2015 champion Djokovic is into his tenth career Monte-Carlo, and first since 2019.
5 – Number of career Top 5 wins recorded by Khachanov. The 27-year-old toppled World No.4 Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-5 to set a quarterfinal with two-time champion Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Khachanov snaps a six-match losing streak against the Top 5 and improves to 5-29 overall against Top-5 talent.
17-3 – The lifetime record of Stefanos Tsitsipas at Monte-Carlo. The Greek edged Alexander Zverev 7-5, 7-6(3) to reach his fourth Monte-Carlo quarterfinal and his 22nd Masters 1000 quarterfinal overall. Tsitsipas improves to 10-5 over Zverev and posts his first Top-5 win since the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals.
Tsitsipas also snaps a six-match losing streak against the Top-5 and improves to 15-32 overall against Top-5 opposition.
1999 – By defeating compatriot Alexei Popyrin (6-3, 6-4), Alex de Minaur has become the first Aussie to reach the quarterfinals at Monte-Carlo since Mark Philippoussis in 1999. De Minaur reaches his second Masters 1000 quarterfinal and improves to 14-3 against fellow Aussies on tour.
2 – Number of match points that Holger Rune saved during his 7-6(9), 3-6, 7-6(2) victory over Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday. The Dane finished off two wins on Thursday (also defeated Nagal in a match that was suspended on Wednesday) to set a quarterfinal with Jannik Sinner.
125 – Casper Ruud notches his 125th career clay-court win with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Hubert Hurkacz. The victory marks Ruud’s fifth Top 10 win on a clay court and 12th overall.