It’s a good time to be Arthur Fils. The 20-year-old Frenchman advanced to his third consecutive 1000-point quarterfinal when he defeated Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-3 during third-round action at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters on Thursday. Fils also reached the quarters in both Indian Wells and Miami.
On the hand, these are not great times for Rublev and fellow Russian Daniil Medvedev. Rublev, who recently added Marat Safin to his coaching team, is a modest 10-8 so far this year and has lost his opening match at five different tournaments. Medvedev lost to Alex de Minaur 6-2, 6-2, so his drought of winning titles or even reaching finals continues. The 29-year-old, who has fallen out of the top 10 to No. 11 in the rankings, has not lifted a trophy since the 2023 Rome Masters and has not reached a title match since 2024 in Indian Wells.
For Fils, it’s full steam ahead to a Friday showdown with second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz.
“I’m playing the quarterfinal here in Monte-Carlo for the first time,” Alcaraz said following a 6-3, 6-1 rout of Daniel Altmaier. “It’s going to be really difficult against Arthur, who is playing great tennis. It’s going to be an interesting match. It’s going to be beautiful to watch, and hopefully the people are going to enjoy it.”
The 21-year-old Spaniard lost in the Indian Wells semis and in the Miami second round, so he is looking to get back on track during what is just his second appearance in Monte-Carlo. He preceded Thursday’s result with a three-set victory over Francisco Cerundolo.
Friday’s other quarterfinals are Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Lorenzo Musetti, Alex de Minaur vs. Grigor Dimitrov, and Alexei Popyrin vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.