Sinner and Alcaraz Advance to Quarterfinals at Monte-Carlo Masters

Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner ended his streak of 37 consecutive sets won at the Masters 1000 level after a challenging match against Tomas Machac. Despite struggling in the second set, Sinner recovered to claim a 6-1, 6-7, 6-3 victory, moving forward in his pursuit to dethrone current world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz. Sinner reflected on the match, stating, 'Not every day is the same. I was struggling a little bit, I was a bit tired.' He faces Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarterfinals, who progressed after Casper Ruud retired due to injury. Alcaraz also dropped a set before securing a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 win over Argentina's Tomas Martin Etcheverry, continuing his title defense. The Spaniard attributed his initial strong performance to feeling the ball well, saying, 'I was just feeling the ball really well in the first set, hitting the ball like 10 out of 10.' Alcaraz will play Alexander Bublik in the quarterfinals. Other notable quarterfinalists include 19-year-old Joao Fonseca, who defeated Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-2, and Alexander Zverev, who beat Zizou Bergs 6-2, 7-5. Valentin Vacherot made history as the first Monegasque in the Open Era to reach the top eight in Monaco, following his win over Hubert Hurkacz. In the Linz WTA 500 tournament, the second and third seeds, Ekaterina Alexandrova and Liudmila Samsonova, were eliminated. Meanwhile, Holger Rune announced his return to action at the Hamburg Open next month after recovering from Achilles surgery.