By Victor Kanayo
Unknown Tennis sensation, Taylor Fritz on Friday, knocked out defending Champion, Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-2 6-4 to seal his place in the semi-final of the Monte Carlo Masters for the first time.
Tsitsipas was on a 12-match winning streak in Monte Carlo, heading into the clash with the American, but Fritz was able to overcome the world No. 2 in straight sets in one hour and 12 minutes.
Fritz, who records his first career top-10 win on a clay court, will play No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev in the last four clash
Fritz will play Rublev on clay for the first time, since they played each other nine years ago on the juniors tour.
Meanwhile, Lorenzo Musetti, earned the biggest win of his career at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, where he upset World No. 1 Novak Djokovic 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 to reach his second ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final.
Competing in wet and windy conditions on Court Rainier III, the 21-year-old Italian, exploited a weak serving performance from Djokovic, breaking the Serbian eight times en route to a two-hour, 54-minute win. After converting his fourth match point, an emotional Musetti looked at his team and shook his head in disbelief.
After dropping the opening set, Musetti rallied from 2-4 in the second set to level. He hit with aggression and depth to force Djokovic into 11 unforced errors in the set and then continued to play with intensity and flair, after a 59-minute rain delay at the start of the decider to earn the second Top 5 win of his career.
With his ninth tour-level win of the season, Musetti improved to 1-3 in his ATP Head2Head series against Djokovic. He will next play countryman Jannik Sinner, after the 21-year-old defeated Hubert Hurkacz earlier Thursday.
Djokovic began the week with an ATP Tour-leading 58.7 winning percentage behind his second serve according to Infosys ATP Stats.
Against Musetti, he won just 39 per cent of his second-serve points (12/31). Entering the match, the Serbian had lost serve just 17 times in 17 matches this year. Against Musetti, he dropped serve eight times.
Musetti entered the clash with momentum, having defeated Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6(1), 6-0 and Luca Nardi 6-0, 6-0.
The 21-year-old Italian, who is into his second Masters 1000 quarter-final after reaching the last eight in Paris in 2022, opened his shoulders as the match went on, crushing the ball off both wings to triumph.
Djokovic was chasing a record-extending 39th ATP Masters 1000 title this week.
The Serbian is a two-time champion in Monte-Carlo, having triumphed in 2013 and 2015.
