With the shocking upsets of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, we are guaranteed to crown a new Masters champion for the second consecutive time this season. Either Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, or Dan Evans will join Hubert Kurkacz as a newly-minted Masters 1000 titleholder in 2021. Evans is also still alive in the doubles draw, where he and fellow Brit Neal Skupski are semifinalists alongside three of the top four seeds.
Saturday’s play will begin at 11:30am local time with the first doubles semifinal.
Stefanos Tsitsipas (4) vs. Dan Evans
What a surprising story Evans has been this week. He arrived in Monte-Carlo with only four career wins on clay, but has doubled that number over the past five days. After surviving a grueling, rain-delayed affair in the opening round against 2019 runner-up Dusan Lajovic, he’s defeated three seeded players: Hubert Hurkacz, David Goffin, and world No.1 Novak Djokovic. The 30-year-old picked up his first career ATP title this past February, and now looks to reach his first Masters 1000 final. Prior to this tournament, he had never advanced beyond the second round of a Masters event on any surface.
Tsitsipas now finds himself as the top seed remaining, and a considerable favorite to reach the final. This is relatively new territory for the 22-year-old, who did not respond well to similar expectations two weeks ago in Miami, where he lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Hubert Hurkacz. But he’s advanced extremely comfortably this week, having yet to drop a set. And he’ll certainly be the fresher player on this day. Tsitsipas received a retirement after one set of quarterfinal play yesterday, and has spent roughly half the amount of time on court as Evans. The British No.1 played for nearly three hours on Friday alone. Also, their head-to-head has been completely one-sided, with Tsitsipas claiming both of their 2020 meetings in straight sets. Last September in Hamburg, Stefanos required only 59 minutes to defeat Evans. So this should be a straightforward victory for Tsitsipas, as long as he doesn’t allow the pressure of being the favorite to overwhelm him.
Andrey Rublev (6) vs. Casper Ruud
Rublev’s win yesterday over his idol, Rafael Nadal, was a career highlight for the 23-year-old. Rafa played some terrible tennis for the first half of the match, yet was twice able to avoid going down a double break in the second set to force a third. But Andrey’s ability to bounce back from the disappointment of dropping the second set was most impressive, as he soundly put Nadal away in the third, becoming the first man to ever win a third set over Rafa in Monte-Carlo. Now just 24 hours later, Rublev’s rebounding skills will again be tested. How will he respond after defeating the King of Clay, as he tries to reach his first Masters 1000 final? Two weeks ago in Miami, he stalled at the semifinal stage, as just like Tsitsipas, he was upset by Hurkacz.
22-year-old Casper Ruud is now into his second consecutive Masters semifinal on clay. In fact, all 10 of his wins at this level have come on this surface. Ruud has excelled on the red dirt since the start of 2020. He’s gone 22-7, and reached the semifinals or better at five clay court events. Casper saved two match points to survive on Thursday against Pablo Carreno Busta, and upset defending champion Fabio Fognini on Friday. But Ruud is 0-3 against Rublev, which includes two encounters on clay. And while Andrey is yet to establish himself at the Masters level, he’s won five 500-level titles, and reached four quarterfinals at Majors. Much like the day’s first singles semifinal, the seeded player is the clear favorite. But this event has seen some strange results of late, and Rublev cannot afford an emotional hangover from his monumental win on Friday.
Other Notable Matches on Saturday:
Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic (2) vs. Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos (4) – Pavic and Mektic are already vying for their fifth title of the season, and lead the tour with 27 match wins. Granollers and Zeballos were just 3-3 on the year coming into this event.
Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah (1) vs. Dan Evans and Neil Skupski – Cabal and Farah won two Majors in 2019, and were champions in Dubai last month. Evans and Skupski were finalists two weeks ago in Miami, which was their first tournament as a team. This will be Dan’s second match of the day, and his ninth in six days.
Saturday’s full Order of Play is here.
