Arthur Fils is through to the semi-final of the Barcelona Open after his quarter-final opponent, Stefanos Tsitsipas, was forced into an early withdrawal through injury.
No player ever likes accepting a retirement, especially when so much is at stake, but ahead of the French Open, Tsitsipas was in no mood to be running any unnecessary risks.
Fils has now set up a last-four battle with Carlos Alcaraz. The Spaniard knows what to expect from the Frenchman, given that he really ought to have lost to him at the Monte Carlo Masters last week.
It was the four-time Grand Slam champion that prevailed, however, and after he defeated Alex de Minaur, the stage is set for what promises to be another exciting match-up between two of the game’s top stars.
Arthur Fils shares what he learned from playing Carlos Alcaraz
Like the proverbial bus, you wait ages for one and then two come along at once. Before last week, Alcaraz and Fils had never met on the ATP Tour but now face each other for a second time.
It was a tough pill to swallow for Fils last week as he wasted a glorious opportunity to sent Alcaraz out of the tournament before he roared back to claim a big victory.
Defeats in sport are all about learning, however, and Fils has admitted that he’s taken a lot from playing Alcaraz for the first time.
He said after beating Tsitsipas: “Of course. The last match was very positive. Of course, I lost it, but still very positive.
“Tomorrow is gonna be different. We are in Spain. He’s playing great here. I think he won twice already. So yeah, it’s gonna be a nice one. I watched a little bit of the match against Alex… Let’s see how it goes tomorrow.”
Alcaraz and Fils set for many battles in the future
It’s great to see these two players finally doing battle in matches on the tour, with both young talents set to form a big part of the future of tennis.
Fils has been in brilliant form in 2025 and surely it won’t be long before he grabs himself another title to go with the three he’s already won.
The 20-year-old is a year younger than Alcaraz and perhaps he doesn’t quite have the same degree of potential but the game needs players like Fils coming through on the tour.
Fils will be looking to stay in some form ahead of the French Open. So far during his young career, he’s never gone beyond the fourth round of a major and his aim for the year will surely be to better that.
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