By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Thursday, April 10, 2025
Carlos Alcaraz stopped Daniel Altmaier to set up a Monte-Carlo quarterfinal showdown vs. 20-year-old Frenchman Arthur Fils, who topped Andrey Rublev.
Photo credit: Mateo Villalba/Getty
Flashy force collides when Carlos Alcaraz and Arthur Fils face off for the first time tomorrow in the Monte-Carlo quarterfinals.
Two of tennis’ most creative and explosive young champions are both coming off impressive victories.
The 20-year-old Fils broke serve five times blitzing Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-3 for his first Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters quarterfinals.
The second-seeded Alcaraz rolled through 11 of the last 13 games cruising past qualifier Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 6-1.
Despite the lopsided scoreline, Alcaraz saved nine of 10 break points and reset after committing 25 unforced errors in the first set.
The 21-year-old Alcaraz is 14-1 on clay since last May with his lone loss on dirt coming to Novak Djokovic in the Olympic gold-medal match at Roland Garros last August.
Alcaraz wins sets up the blockbuster battle vs. Fils in a match of two dynamic athletes, who are excellent movers and can rocket forehands with such force look for the balls to take a bruising on Friday.
Playing for his first title since Rotterdam in February, Alcaraz said he expects a beautiful battle against Fils.
"I mean, he's playing great. I think he's the only player who made at least the quarterfinal in every Masters 1000," Alcaraz told the media in Monte-Carlo. "I mean, his level is really high right now. I saw a little bit from his match today, and he's playing great. I'm not gonna be scared; that's for sure. I'll just try to play my tennis, try to show good tennis, put pressure on him.
"Let's see how it's gonna be, but I'm excited about facing him for the first time and see how it's gonna be. But, yeah, it's going to be a really tough battle. But at the same time, it's going to be beautiful to play and I guess beautiful to watch."
It’s a rare opportunity for Alcaraz to face a younger opponent.
“It's going to be a good experience. He's a big champion,” Fils said of facing Alcaraz. “He won four Grand Slams already. I didn't win a single one. It's going to be a good experience.”
It’s a milestone moment for Fils, who is the only man to reach quarterfinals at each of the first three Masters 1000 events of the season—Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo.
The 12th-seeded Fils improved to 3-1 vs. Top 10 opponents on clay and joins Hall of Famer Yannik Noah and tennis superhero Gael Monfils as the third Frenchman to reach the last eight at the first three Masters 1000 events of the year.
Facing one of the game’s biggest hitters, Fils delivered one of his most complete performances of the season facing just one break point in a clinical 61-minute victory.
“It was a good match. From A to Z I was very focused,” Fils told the media in Monte-Carlo. “I made the right choices. I was implementing my tactics. I was feeling good. This was a really good match.”
A day after scoring his first career Monte-Carlo win, Alcaraz produced the most mind-blowing point of the season in his sweep of Altmaier
.
Down break point, Alcaraz raced forward to flick an acute-angle drop shot only to see the German slide a reply deep down the line.
A streaking Alcaraz ran down the blurring ball, flicked an absolutely insane running tweener lob into the corner, recovered to the center of the court then finished with a flourish.
An amped up Alcaraz soared through 11 of the last 13 games dismissing the German qualifier in 86 minutes.
Since Alcaraz dropped the opening set of the tournament to Francisco Cerundolo, he’s surrendered only five games in four sets.
"You know, from the first match, I realized how I have to play here on clay, that I have to be myself all the time," Alcaraz said. "That's the way that I enjoy playing tennis. Just, you know, playing aggressive just doesn't qualify me, and I realize that after the first set in the first round.
"After that, I think I'm just feeling better and better. As much time as I spending on court, I think I'm going to feel better. Hopefully in quarterfinal, let's see how it's gonna be, but I guess I'm gonna feel better moving, playing, so I think it's gonna be better."