Alcaraz Battles Past Davidovich to Reach Monte Carlo Final

"It's never easy to face a friend," said Carlos Alcaraz before stepping onto the court to face Alejandro Davidovich. And his prediction was spot on. The player from Malaga proved to be a real challenge for the Murcian, who had to fight hard to earn the right to play his first final at the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 this Sunday (7-6 (2), 6-4).

The Murcian, who can win his second title of the season against either Alex de Minaur or Lorenzo Musetti, has quickly used clay as a means to turn his season around. One tournament, one final, the second of the year after Rotterdam, and the chance to claim his sixth Masters 1000, surpassing players like Marat Safin, Boris Becker, Andy Roddick, Marcelo Rios, and Gustavo Kuerten, and equalling Daniil Medvedev.

Alcaraz had the precedent of his victory in Barcelona a couple of years ago against Davidovich, but the mutual recognition went much further, with years of training and matches at other levels. Plus, a curious invitation to the Malaga player's wedding.

"He's a friend and we've known each other for a long time," admitted Alcaraz after defeating Arthur Fils and learning that his semi-final opponent would be Davidovich, a player who aspired to repeat the final he played here in 2022, when he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The Murcian's sense of favouritism was somewhat overshadowed by the doubts generated these days, and these did not disappear when Alcaraz had problems in almost all his service games. There wasn't a serve where he didn't struggle, and if Davidovich had been more accurate with his, the first set would have been decided long before the tie-break.

Alcaraz also had the set won, wasting a forehand by centimetres to take it 6-4, but Davidovich had that burst of anger to extend it and stay in the set until the tiebreak, when he could only laugh at Alcaraz's magic with drop shots, a stroke he struggled with and which has been one of the Murcian's lifelines this week.

After losing the set, the player from Malaga had to call the physio for discomfort in his right shoulder. It wasn't a good prospect before having to win the next two sets if he wanted to be in Sunday's final, especially since Alcaraz had already found his rhythm. As he has done all week, his starts are slow, but if the opponent doesn't take advantage, he performs better over the long distance. That's how he came back against Francisco Cerundolo and Fils, and that's how he showed Davidovich that if he wanted to beat him for the first time in an official match, he should have won that first set.

Without that advantage, Alcaraz, who was watched from the stands by Paulo Dybala, Francesco Totti, Prince Albert II, and even Stefan, one of Djokovic's sons, was already unreachable, no matter how much Davidovich resisted until the end and flirted with a break that would bring him back into the match in the final moments, besides saving the first five match points against him.

On the sixth, he fell, and Alcaraz will play the final this Sunday against either Alex de Minaur or Lorenzo Musetti. It will be his seventh Masters 1000 final, having lost only one, in Cincinnati 2023 against Novak Djokovic. It would be the eighteenth title of his career, equalling the same number as Jannik Sinner.

For Davidovich, this has been a great week, climbing twelve places in the rankings and breaking into the top thirty in the world, as well as being the eighth best of the year so far.