Carlos Alcaraz Reaches Maiden Quarter-Finals In Monte Carlo After Dominant Win
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Carlos Alcaraz started slow again, but he was able to beat Daniel Altmaier in straight sets to reach the 2025 Monte-Carlo Masters quarter-finals.
Before this year, Alcaraz had never won a match at the first clay-court ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season. He played in Monte Carlo only once before, losing in his first match in 2022 against Sebastian Korda.
This year, the young Spaniard finally recorded his first win at the event, and now he added yet another victory at the Monte-Carlo Masters, even though it took time before he got going once again.
Altmaier started by holding his serve, and already in the second set, Alcaraz faced a break point. The four-time Grand Slam champion had to come up with some of his best tennis to save that break point, and he did.
The two produced one of the rallies of the week, which included a beautiful tweener from Alcaraz just moments after he chased down a great drop shot from his opponent.
In that game, Alcaraz had to save a total of five break points, but he succeeded every single time. That was important because at 2-2, the second seed got to his first break chances, and he used the very first one, leading 3-2.
However, Altmaier immediately broke back, making it 3-3. But from that point, Alcaraz started playing much better. He won the last three games of the first set, breaking the German twice, winning the set 6-3.
In the second set, the 21-year-old Spaniard started by facing three consecutive break points, but after saving those, it was a one-man show from him.
Alcaraz won five consecutive games from 1-1 in the second set to win the match 6-3, 6-1, booking his maiden Monte-Carlo Masters quarter-final. His next opponent will be Arthur Fils, and even though the scoreline made it seem like his win over Altmaier was easy, after the match, Alcaraz insisted that it wasn't.
"I'm just really happy to be on clay again. It has been a really good season so far. Probably struggling a little bit in the last one, but coming on clay, which is a surface I love playing on and the surface I grew up playing on, it’s great to feel it again."
"I’m playing a quarter-final here for the first time. It’s gonna be difficult against Arthur Fils, who's playing great tennis lately. He's having a great season so far. So it’s gonna be an interesting match. I think it’s the first time I’m gonna play him. I think it’ll be beautiful to play, beautiful to watch. Hopefully, the people are gonna enjoy."
