World number 33 Daniel Evans came back from one set down to beat David Goffin 5-7 6-3 6-4 after 2 hours and 42 minutes to reach the first Masters 1000 semifinal of his career at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
Evans, who had entered the Monte-Carlo tournament on a 10-match losing streak on clay courts, has followed up his win over world number 1 Novak Djokovic in the third round with a hard-fought win over former world number 10 David Goffin.
Evans earned an immediate break in the first game of the opening set. The British player fended off three break points to open up a 2-0 lead. Goffin broke back, when Evans served for the set at 5-4. The Belgian player converted his second break point in the 12th game, when Evans hit a forehand wide.
Evans held serve at 30 at the start of the second set to win his fifth consecutive game. Evans came back by winning three consecutive games to take a 3-1 lead, including a break in the third game.
Evans saved two break points in the sixth game to hold serve after three deuces for 4-2 and broke serve at 5-3, when Goffin hit a double fault at 15-40.
Evans fended off three break points from 0-40 at 1-1 in the third set. He got a crucial hold after saving four break points at 4-4 in a eight-game set and claimed the break in the 10th game, when Goffin hit a forehand wide.
“I played good today. I felt a bit more pressure today to not just win yesterday and give a bad performance today. It wasn’t easy after the match yesterday. I felt really tired afterwards. To get back and focus, it was difficult. I am proud of how I came back today, especially with what happened in the first set. I felt my concentration wasn’t great and I am really with coming through. He was being aggressive towards me. At the start, I was having to retrieve. He got on top and I could feel that. He had a little chance at the start of the second set, which I got out of and it just turned it for me, I think”, said Evans.
Evans set up a match against Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has reached the semifinals at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters for the first time in his career when his opponent Alejandro Davidovich Fokina was forced to withdraw from the match due to the injury.
Tsitsipas claimed the first set 7-5 on Court Rainier III before Davidovich Fokina took a medical time-out to receive treatment to his left quadricep.
The first set went on serve in the sixth games before Davidovich Fokina got the first break at deuce to take a 4-3 lead. Tsitsipas broke straight back at love in the eighth game to draw level to 4-4. Tsitsipas claimed the first set 7-5 with a break in the 12th game.
Tsitsipas has got through to the sixth Masters 1000 of his career. He has reached to the semifinal at all three clay-court Masters 1000 tournaments, after the final at the Madrid Mutua Open and the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome in 2019.
Tsitsipas won his two previous head-to-head matches against Evans in the Dubai semifinal and Hamburg in 2020.
“I am happy to be at the place where I am right now. I am happy with my performance today. I think I fought really hard. Even in difficult moments, I was putting out my best tennis. I saw he got injured in the middle of the first set and I took advantage of it and tried to make him play. It wasn’t easy, of course. There were certain moments which were a bit tricky and uncertain, but I stayed composed and imposed my game later in the match. Alejandro is a player that has been doing really well and has a big game. He proved himself this week in Monte-Carlo, beating good opponents”, said Tsitsipas.
