Sawt Falasteen - Draper dumped out of Monte Carlo Masters by Davidovich Fokina

Draper, who won the Indian Wells title last month, slipped to a 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-4 loss as he failed to reach a first Masters quarter-final on clay.

Davidovich Fokina will take on either Australia's Alexei Popyrin or Norwegian fourth seed Casper Ruud in Friday's quarter-finals.

The world number 42 is into the last eight in Monaco for the third time, with his best performance a run to the 2022 final which included a shock victory over Novak Djokovic.

Davidovich Fokina edged a hard-fought opening set which featured three breaks of serve.

Draper saw three break points slip away in the ninth game, with Davidovich Fokina taking his second set point.

The players traded breaks in the second set before Draper saved a match point en route to levelling the contest in a tie-break.

But the Briton, playing in the third round of a Masters tournament on clay for the first time, slipped 2-0 behind early in the decider.

It proved to be a topsy-turvy third set, though, with the pair both broken twice inside the first six games.

Davidovich Fokina delivered the decisive blow in the 10th game to secure his first win over a top-10 opponent on clay since 2023.

French youngster Arthur Fils eased into his third successive Masters quarter-final this season with an impressive 6-2, 6-3 thrashing of 2023 champion Andrey Rublev.

Fils will next face either second seed Carlos Alcaraz or Daniel Altmaier who play later on Thursday.

The 20-year-old Fils is aiming to reach the semis of a Masters event for the first time, after losing in the last eight at both Indian Wells and the Miami Open this year.

"If it's him, it's going to be the first time I'm going to play him," Fils said of a potential meeting with Alcaraz.

"It's going to be a good experience. He's a big champion. He won four Grand Slams already. I didn't win a single one."

Three-time champion Stefanos Tsitsipas is also in action later against Nuno Borges, while Daniil Medvedev faces Alex de Minaur.

I.Yassin--SF-PST