Barcelona, Spain – Top seed Carlos Alcaraz won his season-leading eight consecutive wins after beating Alex Deminaurus 7-5, 6-3 in the Barcelona Open quarterfinals on Friday.
Away from his first Monte Carlo Masters title, the next obstacle to Alcalaz’s third Barcelona title was the Arthur Phils.
Phil reached his first semifinals in the year when Barcelona’s four-time finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas retired after losing his first two games.
The injury was unspecified, but Phil suspected it was on Tsitsipas’ back.
Fils is a career-high 13th place and could crack the top 10 for the first time if they win a tournament.
Just making the final is enough to allow Holger Rune to return to the top 10 on the 11th.
His chances improved after he knocked out defending champion Casperuude 6-4, 6-2.
Rude did not help himself with a forced error of 29.
“I played on my own terms and it was really explosive. This is how I want to play,” Rune said.
Rune faces Karen Khachanov. Karen Khachanov beat Alejandro Davidevich Fokina 6-4, 5-2 to 7-5 in the final set.