An epic Friday, that of yesterday in Monte Carlo, four quarter-finals that will remain in the history of the tournament, all finished after two hours and twenty. The first to qualify was Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the real revelation of the tournament, who took 2 hours and 24 minutes to beat 2-6 6-4 6-3 seed number 10 Taylor Fritz, freshly won in Miami. It was then the turn of Grigor Dimitrov, the former baby Federer, to reach the semifinals at the Country Club for the second time, overcoming the seeded Hubert Hurkacz in two hours and 27 minutes for 6-4 3-6 7-6. But the highlight of the day were the last two quarters, the one that saw Jannik Sinner defeated after 3 hours and 7 minutes of battle against the number 3 of the world and 2 of the draw Sascha Zverev (5-7 6-3 7-6) , and the last, played all under artificial light and finished late at night, which saw Stefanos Tsitsipas prevail over Diego Schwartzman at the end of a real thriller after 2 hours and 45 minutes (6-2 6-7 6-4) . Tsitsipas, the defending champion, led 6-2 5-2 before recovering. In the third set, however, he was the one to rise from 0-4, then getting the first of the two matchpoints he needed to win with a spectacular diving volley.
Today, starting at 1.30 pm, Davidovich Fokina challenges Dimitrov, but not before 3.30 pm it will be the turn of Tsitsipas, the defending champion, who will try to stop Zverev, looking for a three-of-a-kind career snei Masters 1000 on clay after winning twice in Madrid and one in Rome. The Spaniard won his only confrontation with Dimitrov last year at the Foro Italico, while Tsitsipas leads 6-3 against the German and has won his only two confrontations on clay. Live on Sky Sport, best delayed match on SuperTennis at 9.30pm.