Carlos Alcaraz continued his quest for a first Masters title of 2025 with a testing victory over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters on Saturday.
The four-time Grand Slam champion experienced some patchy play and faced stern resistance from Fokina before prevailing 7-6(2), 6-4. Moving into the final of a Tour-level event for the 23rd time in his career at the age of 21. It is the third consecutive clay event Alcaraz has played where he has reached the title match after last year’s French Open and the Olympic Games which were both held at Roland Garros.
“I think I played really good tennis since the beginning of the last point,” Alcaraz said during his on-court interview.
“I tried to take the chances he (Fokina) gave me in the match. He saved a lot of break points and a lot of match points. It was close.
“I just tried to play good tennis tactically. I think I did a great match and also the most important thing, for me, is I felt great physically moving, and hitting the ball. So I’m just super excited about tomorrow.”
Alcaraz, who is making his second appearance in Monte Carlo, overcame a few blips throughout a tricky 65-minute opening set. The world No.3 fended off a trio of break points in his first service game before breaking Fokina in the next en route to a 3-0 lead. Despite dropping one of his serves to love, the Spaniard was on the verge of clinching the opener with relative ease with two set-point opportunities coming and going when he was up 5-2.
However, similar to his matches earlier in the week, Alcaraz’s inconsistency during certain stages of the match cost him as 2022 finalist Fokina battled back to draw level at 5-5. He managed to regain his stronghold in the tiebreaker which he began by winning five out of the first six points played. Giving Alcaraz enough of a margin to finally close the set out, which he did with a serve out wide that triggered a Fokina unforced error.
During a changeover before the start of the second frame, Fokina opted to have medical treatment for an issue with his right shoulder. When play resumed, Alcaraz started in the same way as the opening set by breaking Fokina. Closing in on victory, the second seed continued to be pushed by his rival. After failing to convert four match points when leading 5-3, he secured the win in the following game with a thunderous forehand winner.
“It’s been a long time,” Alcaraz said of reaching his first Masters 1000 final in 13 months.
“I had to believe that this moment was gonna come again.
“They (his fans) want me to make finals in every tournament. So I’m just really happy to give them the time to watch one of my finals again.”
Alcaraz has won 13 consecutive matches against fellow Spanish players since losing to Rafael Nadal at the 2022 Indian Wells Masters. Furthermore, as a result of his latest victory, he has overtaken Jannik Sinner Sinner to No. 1 on PIF ATP Live Race to Turin.
Since the Masters format was introduced in 1990, Alcaraz is only the third player to have reached at least seven finals before turning 22. Following in the footsteps of Novak Djokovic who reached nine and Nadal who played in a record 15.
He will play either Alex de Minaur or Lorenzo Musetti in the title match on Sunday.
“I’m really happy with my team, with everything we’ve done this period from, from the last final (he played). So I just I’m gonna I’m gonna try to enjoy this, this moment,” Alcaraz concluded.
