Second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and third-seeded Daniil Medvedev were upset by their opponents in the ATP Monte-Carlo Masters quarterfinals, as all the top four seeds had failed to reach the last four at the first clay-court Masters tournament of the season.
World no.1 Novak Djokovic and fourth seed Casper Ruud suffered an earlier exit in the round of 16 on Thursday, reports Xinhua.
Two-time defending champion Tsitsipas committed 18 unforced errors in his clash with Taylor Fritz as the Greek had his 12-match winning streak in the tournament snapped by the American 6-2, 6-4 in only 70 minutes.
"I thought my level today was very high. I think I played a very good match. Beating him here gives me a lot of confidence," Fritz said. "It has given me the reassurance I need to know I can play well on clay."
The eighth seed struck 21 winners, and was dominant on serving with 80% points-won for his first serve and 70% for the second, far beyond than that of his rival with 64% and 45%.
It was Fritz's first win against Tsitsipas after losing all their three previous head-to-head encounters. The 25-year-old, chasing his second Masters title, will next face Russia's Andrey Rublev in the semifinals.
"He is a great player and a good friend and I am excited for the match," Fritz said when asked about Rublev. "He is tough."
Fifth-seeded Rublev ended German qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff's fairy-tale run to secure a spot in the last four with a 6-1, 7-6(5) win.
Having dispatched 2022 French Open finalist Ruud a day before, Struff has boosted his confidence. Even after losing his first set against Rublev in a one-sided way, the 32-year-old remained patient on court and organised a strong fight-back in the second, during which he hit 17 winners to force a tie-break.
"I was able to show a great level through the match, except some moments where I started to show emotions and started to get negative," Rublev said in his on-court interview. "In the end it was a dramatic match, especially in the second set. But I was able to calm myself down and play a good tie-break and I was lucky to win in straight sets."
The other semifinal will be played between Denmark's Holger Rune and Jannik Sinner of Italy.
Rune defeated the in-form Medvedev 6-3, 6-4 to reach his second Masters semifinals, also improving his record against world top 10 players to 10-8 at the age of only 19.
Seventh seed Sinner knocked out fellow Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-2, 6-2 to secure his third last four appearance in as many Masters events this season.
(With inputs from IANS)
