World No. 10 Fritz finished it off after just over an hour in a love game. He finished the game with an ace. “I played well in the key moments and pulled the trigger when I had to so he couldn’t dictate a forehand,” Fritz said. And he wrote on camera afterwards: “USA, Clay.” Obviously, tennis players from the United States have performed best on hard courts for years, which is the most widely used surface in the country.

The 24-year-old Tsitsipas has won the previous two editions of the Monte Carlo Masters. Last year, he defeated the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the final fight, a year earlier – the Russian Andrei Rublev. The latter is Fritz’s opponent in the Final Four. Tsitsipas is still waiting for his first title this year. Last month he lost his first match at the Masters in Indian Wells and his second in Miami.

Djokovic had also previously failed to reach the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters. Surprisingly, the world’s first seed lost 6-4, 5-7, 4-6 to Italian Lorenzo Musetti, in a match of no fewer than fifteen breaks.

Djokovic played his first event in Monaco since the Dubai Championships in early March. Then the Serb witnessed the passage of masters tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami. He was not allowed to enter the United States because he had not been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Djokovic, who was down by a first-round bye, had already made his first start against Russian qualifier Ivan Gachev on Tuesday. He also played unrecognizable at times against Musetti, ranked world No. 21, and made needless mistakes.

The Serbian player led 3-1 in the first set, but immediately served his own serve. It turned out to be the first break in a series. Djokovic scored again to take a 4-2 lead, but was unable to finish the set on his serve moments later. Musetti came back with a score of 5-4, but in turn lost his serve: 6-4.

The five breaks of the first set turned out to be just a taste of what was to come. The first four service games of the second set were delivered before Djokovic was able to hold serve 3-2. The tournament winners in 2013 and 2015 went off 4-2, but saw their Italian opponent turn things around with two straight breaks, 4-5. Musetti was unable to immediately set the set based on his serve, but he took his second chance after Djokovic lost serve again, 5-7.

After the fourteen breaks in the first two sets, the third followed a slightly more natural pattern. The rain stopping at 1-1 did not deter the players from their focus and even at 3-3 they kept pace with each other. Musetti then broke Djokovic and moments later converted his fourth match point to win the deciding set 6-4.