These are victories that are worth a little more than that in a career. By winning in the quarter-final against the American Tommy Paul in the quarter-finals of the Masters 1000 in Miami, on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, at the end of a crazy match and after having erased four match points, Arthur Fils confirms his rise in power since his return from injury in February. However, things got off to a very bad start in the last round.
Trailing 6-2 in the final tie-break, Fils managed the feat of saving four consecutive match points, including two on opponent’s service, before going on to win the next two points and this 2h49 marathon match, snatched (6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (8/6)), to qualify for the first Masters 1000 semi-final of his young career. He will challenge the Czech Jiri Lehecka (24 years old, 22nd) on Friday for a place in the final.
The Frenchman, 31st in the ATP at the start of the week, surely thought he had missed his chance with a first match point in his favor at 6-5 in the last set, on his only break point of the game, but missed the opportunity with a rare direct error on the forehand.
Tommy Paul (28 years old, 23rd), excellent on serve and very skillful on the volley, for his part offered very few free points to the Frenchman during an ultra-tight match where neither player managed to seize the opposing serve. Fils, who multiplied devastating forehands at more than 160 km/h, saved six break points during the match, and has still not been broken since the start of the tournament.
Unbeatable by players outside the top 10
After reaching the quarters in Indian Wells, the Frenchman impressed again in Miami, where he notably crushed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the 3rd round (6-0, 6-1) before showing himself very solid against an excellent Valentin Vacherot in the 8th final. It took his feat on Wednesday to finally reach a semi-final of a tournament of this level after four failures in the quarters.
This new milestone illustrates the current very high level of the Ile-de-France native, who only returned to the circuit in February after missing eight months of competition due to a back injury. Since his resumption he has only lost four times, always against members of the top 10, notably world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in the final in Doha in February.
And that’s good, there is no longer a top 10 in his part of the table in Florida where the favorites, Alcaraz included, have faltered. On Friday, Fils will play for a place in the final against Lehecka, who ended the adventure of Spanish qualifier Martin Landaluce (151st) 7-6 (7/1), 7-5 on Wednesday. The Frenchman has already dominated the Czech twice in three duels, notably in the quarter-final in Doha last month (6-3, 6-3).
Guaranteed to re-enter the world Top 30 at the end of the tournament, Fils will not be able to regain his best ranking (14th) even in the event of a final victory. His current level, however, allows him to project himself very high if he maintains it all season, having no points to defend after the month of August.
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