David Goffin beat Novak Djokovic for the first time in his career on his fifth match point, winning 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 to reach the Monte Carlo Masters semifinals Friday. Goffin denied Djokovic a possible 50th career match against defending champion Rafael Nadal, who was playing the last remaining quarterfinal against unseeded Diego Schwartzman. The 10th-seeded Goffin had lost all previous five matches to Djokovic and looked to heading for another when the 12-time Grand Slam winner led 4-2 in the decider. But Goffin broke him in the eighth game and held firm on his own serve when taken to deuce in a tight 11th game. The pressure was back on the second-ranked Djokovic to hold and force a tiebreak, but Goffin kept coming at him. Djokovic saved the first match point with an ace; the second one on his second serve; the third with a stinging forehand winner and a fourth when Goffin chopped a backhand into the net. But a sloppy unforced error on forehand gave Goffin another chance, and he took it with a deep forehand right on the line that Djokovic swiped back off balance into the net. Goffin, who had taken just one set off Djokovic before Friday, grabbed his head with both hands. Djokovic, the champion here in 2013 and 2015, hugged him at the net. Earlier, Albert Ramos-Vinolas won the last four games to beat fifth-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-2. Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, seemed to be in command when he broke at the start of the third set. But the Spaniard rallied to set up a semi against Lucas Pouille of France, who beat Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-0, 3-6, 7-5. Murray to play Barcelona in bid for claycourt time World No. 1 Andy Murray will play next week's Barcelona Open in a bid to build match fitness and clock up much-needed claycourt time ahead of next month's French Open. Murray had been scheduled to play just Madrid and Rome ahead of the French Open. The Scot had suffered an elbow injury in March, and only made his return from a five-week layoff Wednesday in Monaco. Sharapova should not get French Open wildcard: Radwanska Former world No. 1 tennis player Maria Sharapova should not be fast-tracked into next month's French Open as she returns from a doping ban, insists Polish rival Agnieszka Radwanska. With double French Open champion Sharapova currently unranked, all eyes will be on the French Tennis Federation (FFT) next month when it decides whether or not to hand the 30-year-old a wildcard into the tournament. A decision will be announced during "the week of May 15", the French federation, which organizes the tournament, said in a statement Friday. The French Open starts on May 28. Nadal among favorites for French Open, says Arantxa Nine-time winner Rafael Nadal remains among the favorites for this year's French Open — but Roger Federer is stronger than ever at 35, according to Spanish great Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. Sanchez-Vicario said Nadal's fitness would be the key at the season's second Grand Slam, starting next month, after he missed last year's French Open during an injury-hit 2016. However, the 30-year-old Spaniard recovered to stun many observers by reaching January's Australian Open final against Federer, where he lost in five sets to his long-time rival. "Well, definitely. I think that he is one of the favorites to win again at Roland Garros," Sanchez-Vicario, a four-time Grand Slam-winner, said. — Agencies
