Carlos Alcaraz charged into his first Masters final in 13 months with a hard-fought 7-6(2), 6-4 win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Monte Carlo on Saturday, though not before his Spanish compatriot saved five match points in a fierce battle.
Alcaraz will face Lorenzo Musetti in Sunday’s final after the Italian staged a remarkable comeback to defeat Alex de Minaur 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(4).
The second-seeded Alcaraz struggled to break Davidovich Fokina, converting just three of 19 break points. He also squandered three set points in a tense opening set that stretched over an hour. Davidovich Fokina’s defense was exceptional, but Alcaraz upped his game in the second set, holding serve without facing a single break point.
“It’s been a long time,” Alcaraz said after reaching his first Masters final since he won at Indian Wells last year. “I just had to be patient and believe that this moment was going to come again. Sometimes people are not patient; they want me to make the final in every tournament.”
The 21-year-old sealed the win with a sizzling forehand winner down the line to move into his first final in Monte Carlo.
The two shared a warm embrace at the net and a laugh before Alcaraz praised his compatriot.
“I think I played really good tennis from the beginning until the last point,” Alcaraz added. “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. The most important thing is that I’m feeling great physically.”
Musetti, who had beaten three-time champion Stefanos Tsitsipas in the previous round, reached his first Masters 1000 final after battling De Minaur for 2 1/2 hours.
“I always struggle to start and find a rhythm, but today Alex was playing really solid, and the conditions were hard,” Musetti said. “It was slow today with the rain, and it was not easy to break through the Alex wall. I started to be more patient, and that was the key.”
Alcaraz holds a 3-1 record over Musetti, but the Italian beat him the last time they met in a clay-court final in 2022 in Hamburg.