Jannik Sinner found his serve and forehand just when he needed them, and beat Carlos Alcaraz—and the wind—in a tactical tug of war

MONACO (AP) — Second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz moved into the Monte Carlo Masters quarterfinals after beating qualifier Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 6-1 on Thursday.

Alcaraz saved nine of the 10 break points he faced and took five of the seven chances he had.

"Honestly it was difficult, Danny is playing great," the third-ranked Alcaraz said. "The score doesn't show how difficult it was."

At his first clay-court tournament this season, the Spaniard has won four straight sets for the loss of just five games since dropping the opening set to Francisco Cerundolo in their round-of-32 match.

Alcaraz next plays on Friday against Arthur Fils who won by an impressive 6-2, 6-3 against 2023 champion Andrey Rublev in the round of 16.

Fils is the only player this season to have reached the quarterfinals at Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo.

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Fils has advanced to the quarterfinals at three straight Masters following Indian Wells and Miami last month, and raised his record to 14-6 this season.

Two more seeded players were upset on Thursday.

Fourth-seeded Casper Ruud lost to Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 and fifth-seeded Jack Draper was beaten by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-4. British left-hander Draper had service problems with 10 double faults and landed fewer than half of his first serves.

The 42nd-ranked Davidovich, who eliminated 11th-seeded American Ben Shelton in the first round, faces Popyrin in the quarterfinals.

Three-time Monte Carlo champion Stefanos Tsitsipas was playing the late match against unseeded Nuno Borges.