Alcaraz soars past Davidovich Fokia, reaches Monte-Carlo final

Carlos Alcaraz continued his impressive start to his clay campaign on Saturday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, where he reached his first ATP Masters 1000 final in 13 months.

The 21-year-old Spaniard earned a hard-fought 7-6(2), 6-4 victory over countryman Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to advance to his first final at this level since winning Indian Wells last March. Alcaraz let slip three set points in a testing, 65-minute opener and ultimately needed six match points before reaching his 23rd tour-level final.

Now into his third consecutive clay-court final after winning Roland Garros and claiming a silver medal at the Paris Olympics last year, Alcaraz awaits Alex de Minaur or Lorenzo Musetti. The No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings is chasing his maiden Masters 1000 trophy on the surface outside of Madrid (2022-23).

“It’s been a long time,” said Alcaraz of his 13-month drought in Masters 1000 finals. “I just had to be patient and believe that this moment was going to come again. Sometimes the people are not patient, they want me to make the final in every tournament. I’m really happy to give them the chance to watch one of my finals again.”

If Alcaraz claims his first Monte-Carlo crown on Sunday, he will surpass Alexander Zverev for World No. 2. Just by reaching the final, the Spaniard has overtaken Jannik Sinner to No. 1 in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin.

While Alcaraz fired a rasping 164 km/h forehand winner down the line early on, it was that wing that caused him problems when attempting to close out a tightly-contested opening set. The 21-year-old hit back-to-back forehand unforced errors to drop serve at 5-3, adding to his total tally of 11 on that side during that set.

Alcaraz responded well to letting slip three set points, however, and rediscovered his form in a watertight tie-break. The 17-time tour-level champion let out a mighty roar when sealing the set, which signalled the start of further dominance on Court Rainier III.

Davidovich Fokina’s dogged defence was on full display throughout the semi-final clash, highlighted by a gutsy 13-minute hold for 1-2 in the second. Yet it proved to be nothing more than a consolation, with Alcaraz continuing to command from the baseline. He did not face a break point in the second set, according to Infosys ATP Stats, en route to improving to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Davidovich Fokina.

“I think I played really good tennis from the beginning until the last point,” added Alcaraz. “I tried to take the chances he gave me in the match. He saved a lot of break points and match points, but I’m really happy to [have] thought about myself. The most important thing is that I’m feeling great physically.”

With his run to the semi-finals in Monte-Carlo, Davidovich Fokina secured his return to the Top 30 of the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time since last May. The 2022 runner-up was aiming to reach his third ATP Tour final of the season (Delray Beach, Acapulco), but was unable to contain Alcaraz once he found his range.