Joao Fonseca produced a commanding performance to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal, defeating Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-2 in 74 minutes. The 19-year-old Brazilian broke Berrettini four times and fired a forehand that registered 105 mph on the radar.

Fonseca built pressure on return games and held serve with authority throughout the match. “It was a pretty good match (from) the beginning, playing really aggressive, putting a lot of pressure on the return games and doing pretty well on the service games, as well,” he said in press.

He acknowledged the threat posed by Berrettini’s weapon. “Berrettini has a huge forehand. When I played him for the first time, it was difficult for me. We were playing, well, indoors, and it was Davis Cup, and he was hitting forehand like crazy.” Against the Italian on clay, Fonseca neutralized that shot by staying aggressive and taking the ball early.

The victory follows Berrettini’s 6-0, 6-0 win over Daniil Medvedev the previous day. For Fonseca, it also marks a return to form after a low back issue disrupted his first two months of the season. “Preseason came, and unfortunately I got an injury. I was trying to get back with rhythm and physique,” he said. “Then after I came back from Australia, I had some weeks to prepare. We have been working a lot on my movement on clay and hard, and soon enough on grass.”

Since Indian Wells, Fonseca has collected seven Masters 1000 wins, matching his 2025 total across seven events. During the Sunshine Double he tested himself against Jannik Sinner (Indian Wells) and Carlos Alcaraz (Miami).

Currently ranked world No. 40, Fonseca faces Alexander Zverev in the next round. A win over Zverev is projected to propel Fonseca back inside the Top 30, furthering the rapid progress the teenager has made this season.

Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced to his first Monte Carlo quarterfinal when Casper Ruud retired with a leg injury, the match recorded as 7-5, 2-2 at the time of the stoppage. The 25-year-old Canadian’s progress, albeit via retirement, marks a notable career milestone: he has now reached the quarterfinals or better at each of the nine Masters 1000 events at least once.

Prior to Monte Carlo, Auger-Aliassime had reached this stage at Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Rome, Canada, Cincinnati, Shanghai and Paris. Monte Carlo was the only Masters 1000 stop missing from that list until Ruud’s withdrawal completed his set.

He is also the third player born in the 2000s to record quarterfinals or better at all nine Masters 1000 tournaments. The others are world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and world No. 2 Jannik Sinner. Alcaraz, born in 2003, completed his career set at Rome last year, where he eventually went all the way to the title. Sinner, born in 2001, completed his career set later last year in Paris, where he too eventually went all the way to the title.

Auger-Aliassime is the first Canadian to achieve this career collection of Masters 1000 quarterfinals. Milos Raonic, now retired, came close but missed Shanghai. Denis Shapovalov is the next-closest among Canadian players, currently missing Indian Wells, Monte Carlo, Cincinnati and Shanghai in his Masters 1000 quarterfinals tally.

Maintaining this career-best run in Monte Carlo will present a sterner test. Up next for Auger-Aliassime is Jannik Sinner, who reached the round by beating Tomas Machac in the third round on Thursday, 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-3. The encounter will pit Auger-Aliassime against a player who completed his own Masters 1000 quarterfinal set last year and who arrives having won important matches on the clay swing.

Valentin Vacherot produced the biggest clay-court win of his career when he defeated Lorenzo Musetti 7-6 (6), 7-5 on Court Rainier III at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. After surviving a deciding set in his opening match against Juan Manuel Cerundolo, the 27-year-old found another gear in front of a familiar home crowd.

Having seen three set points slip away before saving one of his own, Vacherot held firm to close out the straight-sets victory. The 27-year-old admitted to ATP Media’s Colin Fleming afterwards that “I didn’t deserve to win the tiebreak”, though he delivered when it mattered to topple last year’s runner-up.

The win marked Vacherot’s first Top 5 victory of the season and his first at clay since his upset of Novak Djokovic during last October’s Shanghai Rolex Masters run. “If someone had told me that my first Top 5 win of the season would be here in the night session on this center court I’ve been hitting on since I’m six years, (I’d say) nothing can beat that,” he said.

He added context on his relationship with the surface: “Maybe people don’t know that I love clay. I grew up playing here before going to college where I learned to play on hard. I needed a set and a half to get on it in the first round. Now my clay-court game is back and ready to roll.”

Musetti entered the event seeking his first win since the Australian Open, where he retired up two sets on Djokovic in the quarterfinals with an upper right leg injury. He lost his Indian Wells opener and later withdrew from the Miami Open with a right arm issue. In 2025, the Italian converted his Monte Carlo run into semifinal appearances at Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros.

Vacherot now moves into third-round play and will face Hubert Hurkacz on Thursday. The Pole ended a seven-match losing streak by eliminating 15th seed Luciano Darderi in the first round and followed that with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Fabian Marozsan today.