Sep 1, 2024; Flushing, NY, USA; Andrey Rublev after a miss to Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) on day seven of the 2024 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

tennis

Arthur Fils Brushes Aside 2023 Champion Andrey Rublev in Monte Carlo Masters 2025 Round of 16 Upset

Rublev is yet to reach a quarterfinal since February.

Sep 1, 2024; Flushing, NY, USA; Andrey Rublev after a miss to Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) on day seven of the 2024 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

12th seed Arthur Fils secured his spot in the 2025 Monte Carlo Masters quarterfinals in comfortable fashion. The Frenchman took down seventh seed Andrey Rublev 6-2 6-3 in merely 62 minutes in Thriller Thursday’s first Round of 16 encounter. Fils now awaits the winner of Carlos Alcaraz vs Daniel Altmaier in the last eight stage.

Fils continues to impress at the young age of 20; this is now his third consecutive quarterfinal entry – having done the same at Indian Wells and Miami. The prodigious powerhouse capped off the month of March by achieving his career-high ATP ranking of No. 15 in the world, and is only bettering his form by the looks of it. After a tight opening round against Tallon Griekspoor, Fils has looked practically flawless at the Principality.

Rublev Has No Answers to Arthur Fils’ Magic

“He’s playing unbelievable. We had one practice three days ago, it was tough,” were the exact words of Arthur Fils before he locked horns with the Russian veteran. It is safe to say that he overcame the challenge with aplomb. Fils neutralised the Rublev forehand brilliantly well throughout, and pushed the World No. 9 out of his comfort zone to take control of the match.

One of the key tactics adopted by Fils was the body serve – refusing to allow Rublev to extend his arms and pound his meaty forehands. There was a clear difference in terms of the body language on court. While the 2023 Monte Carlo winner looked meak and dejected, his French counterpart was constantly grunting and fist bumping his way towards victory.

As Rublev sent a backhand wide on the ad side, Fils broke for a second time in the set to emerge a straight sets victor. He won 81% points on first serve, as opposed to 59% for the Russian. And although they hit the same number of unforced errors (18), Rublev’s nine winners were no match for his opponent (21 winners).

Phenomenal Fils Breaks Records in Monte Carlo R16 Win

By reaching the last eight at the Monaco-based event, Arthur Fils is now the only male player to reach the quarterfinals at three out of the first three Masters-1000 events in 2025. He is also the youngest player to achieve this feat since the format was introduced back in 1990. Fils joins some elite company in the form of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray in this list.

3/3 – Arthur Fils is the youngest player to make the quarter-finals at all first three seasonal ATP Masters 1000 events since the format’s introduction in 1990. En-plein.#RolexMonteCarloMasters | @ROLEXMCMASTERS @atptour @ATPMediaInfo pic.twitter.com/T5cA4Ttqf1
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) April 10, 2025

“Of course I saw the PSG match yesterday,” revealed the Courcouronnes-born player. The French side picked up a 3-1 victory over Aston Villa in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal first leg on Wednesday. “I said to myself, ‘why not do the same’,” he proudly said.

Assuming World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz makes it to the quarterfinal as well, it will be the first meeting between the two young guns. Who is going to take home the Monte Carlo Masters crown in 2025? Stay tuned to find out.

Andrey Rublev

Andy Murray

Arthur Fils

ATP

Monte Carlo Masters

Novak Djokovic

Rafael Nadal

Tennis

Sankalp Harikrishnan

A passionate sports fan through and through, I am currently pursuing my MA in Global Sports Journalism. I specialise in tennis and football writing at The Playoffs News, and I have prior experience working at EssentiallySports and Sportskeeda. Born and raised in Bengaluru, India, sport was my safe space right from my childhood. After trying my hand at multiple sports and representing my educational institutions in cricket, badminton and table tennis, I found sports media to be my calling.