Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty
Dueling Alex de Minaur in the dirt, Carlos Alcaraz was driven to the doubles alley—and answered with a screaming return winner.
That stinging strike prompted Alcaraz to flash a smile to coaches Juan Carlos Ferrero and Samuel Lopez in the box.
When Alcaraz wasn’t creating chaos—he was reveling in the joys of the statement strike.
Down a break early, Alcaraz disarmed de Minaur 7-5, 6-3 driving into his third Barcelona semifinal.
Two-time Barcelona champion Alcaraz scored his 13th consecutive win at the event he calls his home tournament.
“I started quite bad with the serve, and not playing bad, it was the first few games with my serve,” Alcaraz said. “Then I think I just improved a lot and just calmed down myself and just think positive again and think about just keep going and playing good tennis again.
“I think it was really tight. The first set he had a lot of opportunities. I'm really glad I ended up winning the first set. And second set, I think I played great tennis. Just really really happy.”
When Alcaraz is in his happy place, red clay courts are a painful space for the opposition.
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A ruthless Alcaraz hasn’t exactly rolled out the welcome mat on home soil. Monte-Carlo champion Alcaraz scored his eighth straight win and improved to 28-1 in clay-court matches on Spanish soil since the start of the 2022 season with his lone loss in that span coming to Andrey Rublev in the 2024 Madrid quarterfinals.
In a quarterfinal of 2025 ATP match leaders, Alcaraz broke four times, sharpened his serve as the match progressed and applied his all-court acumen to defeat de Minaur for the fourth time in as many meetings. Alcaraz raised his record to an ATP-best 23-4. De Minaur, who played a fantastic first set, dropped to 22-8 suffering his 10th consecutive defeat to a Top 10 player.
Continuing his hunt for a third Barcelona title, Alcaraz will face talented 20-year-old Frenchman Arthur Fils for the second straight tournament with a spot in Sunday’s final on the line.
In today’s final quarterfinal, Fils led Stefanos Tsitsipas 2-0 when the four-time finalist retired due to an apparent back injury after 17 minutes of play.
Facing a 1-3 deficit in the decider against Fils last Friday, Alcaraz fired through five games in a row fending off the dangerous Fils 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 to reach his first Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters semifinal. So expect fireworks in tomorrow’s rematch.
Earlier, Holger Rune broke four times dethroning defending champion Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-2.
The 21-year-old Rune was 1-6 lifetime against Ruud, but turned the tables winning 23 of 29 first-serve points and tormenting the second seed’s weaker backhand wing.
Rune registered his third consecutive Top 10 win to sweep into his 23rd career ATP semifinal. Rune, who was slowed by a bout with food poisoning earlier in the season, is now 6-0 in ATP quarterfinals since August.
Next up for Rune is a semifinal showdown against Karen Khachanov.
Facing a 2-5 second-set deficit, Khachanov rolled through five games in a row subduing Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-4, 7-5.
The 27th-ranked Khachanov advanced to his 25th Tour-level semifinal, including his third final four on red clay.
Though his flat strikes elicit greater rewards on hard court and grass, de Minaur deployed variety on dirt carving a sharp-angled backhand volley for break points in the third game. When Alcaraz framed a forehand, de Minaur drew first-break blood.
World No. 7 de Minaur held at 15 for a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes.
That’s when Alcaraz began making the ball dance with some high bounding topspin forehands. Alcaraz smacked a crackling forehand down the line to break back at love.
De Minaur answered churning all over the court with a superb defensive stand to break for 4-3.
Sneaking a drop shot by the speed Demon is about as easy as winning a clay-court point without tracking footprints on the dirt. Yet Alcaraz dabbed such a deceptive forehand dropper, it nearly froze his opponent as he broke to level after eight games.
First serve pace, superior forehand volatility and his sheer unpredictability are three essential elements to Alcaraz’s undefeated record against de Minaur.
Detonating damaging forehands to open the court, Alcaraz finished drilling a diagonal forehand winner for a second set point.
Alcaraz countered the wide serve slamming a deep return. When de Minaur dragged a backhand wide, the top-seeded Spaniard snatched a quality opening set in 59 minutes.
"After going 4-2 down in the second, I played a bit more like what my level is,” said Alcaraz. “I am very happy that I could step up my level and seem more like my best, and I want to continue.”
In the Aussie’s opening service game of set two, Alcaraz showed eye–popping speed running down a fantastic short-angled volley and lifting a slick running pass. That magic helped Alcaraz eventually earn a break point, but de Minaur blasted some fast flat forehands dodging dilemma to hold for 1-all.
Compelled to play higher-risk tennis, de Minaur spit up his sixth double fault off the tape to face a second break point in the sixth game.
Reading the wide serve, Alcaraz torched a two-handed return winner down the line breaking for 4-2.
Successive smashes brought the Spaniard to double match point. Alcaraz closed in 98 minutes.
World No. 2 Alcaraz is now 20-1 on red clay since last May as he stands two wins from a Barcelona triple crown.