Carlos Alcaraz has fought his way to his first-ever Monte-Carlo Masters final after defeating fellow Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in an exciting semi-final showdown.
It was a proud day for Spanish tennis fans as two of their countrymen faced off in the prestigious ATP Masters 1000 tournament. While Alcaraz was expected to go deep in the tournament, Davidovich Fokina’s run to the semis came as a pleasant surprise.
Davidovich Fokina had been playing great tennis throughout the event, but he quickly discovered that taking down the tournament favorite would be no easy task.
| Name | Age | Points | Stats 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| es Carlos Alcaraz | 21 | 68,791 | 25 - 5 |
Alcaraz came out firing from the very first point, racing to a commanding 3-0 lead.
Though Davidovich Fokina managed to break back and show some fight, the 21-year-old Alcaraz broke again to go up 5-2.
What should have been a straightforward first set suddenly got complicated. Alcaraz couldn’t convert two set points at 5-2, then failed to serve out the set and even got broken.
The drama led to a tiebreak, where Alcaraz finally found his best tennis. He dominated 7-2 to take the opening set despite those earlier hiccups.
The second set showed why Alcaraz is considered one of the world’s best. His level went up another notch, and although he converted just one of a whopping 14 break points, it was all he needed. Davidovich Fokina couldn’t create a single break opportunity in the second set.
Alcaraz closed out the match 7-6(2), 6-4 to reach his first Monte-Carlo Masters final.
After the match, the young Spanish star couldn’t hide his joy about returning to a big final:
“It’s been a long time. But I just had to be patient. I had to believe that this moment would come again. Just working hard. Probably people are not patient. They want me to make a final in every tournament.”
“So I’m really happy to give them the chance to watch one of my finals again. I’m happy with my team and with everything we’ve done in this period since the last final. I’m gonna try to enjoy this moment.”
The win has another significant benefit for Alcaraz – he’s now jumped ahead of Jannik Sinner to become the No. 1 player in the 2025 ATP Race, which tracks points earned just in the current year. Sinner has played only one tournament but earned 2,000 points by winning the Australian Open.
Alcaraz now sits at 2,060 points for 2025 and could boost that to 2,410 if he wins the Monte-Carlo final.
He’ll face either Lorenzo Musetti or the red-hot Alex de Minaur in Sunday’s championship match.
