Arthur Fils is ticking off significant milestones at the BNP Paribas Open. The 20-year-old became the youngest French men’s quarterfinalist at a Masters 1000 since Richard Gasquet in 2006 when he beat California native Marcos Giron 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 on Tuesday night.

He is also sure to become the new French No. 1 for the first time, a significant feat given France’s love of tennis and rich tennis history. And to think that it might not have happened at all, since Fils — which translates to ‘son’ in English — had to save a match point in the third round against Lorenzo Musetti.

“I guess I have been a bit lucky against Lorenzo, saving match point,” Fils, at a new career high of 18 in the live rankings, told reporters. “But I'm just fighting, trying to find a way during every match. For now, it's working, so pretty happy about it.”

Fighting and trying to maintain a high intensity throughout matches is something Fils has been working on with his team that includes Ivan Cinkus, the former coach of Grand Slam winner Marin Cilic. Anyone who watches Fils knows of his immense abilities. He can rip serves at 140 mph, generate huge pace on the forehand and few are quicker than him around the court.

Just how good of an athlete is Fils? At the Next Gen Finals in 2023, he won a mock combine. In fact, he won all four of the challenges: A vertical jump, 10-meter sprint, star drill (shuttles) and reaction test. Other participants included Alex Michelsen, Flavio Cobolli and Luca Nardi, the man who upset Novak Djokovic in the desert last year. But consistency has been an issue for him — which isn’t entirely surprising due to his inexperience.

Last year, while landing two titles at 500 level — one step below the Masters — Fils endured three three-match losing streaks. More than half of his 28 losses came against lower-ranked players.

“I think that last year a couple of matches went a bit, like this,” he said, snapping his fingers. Losing, get broken, then losing (a set) 6-2. We had some good talks with the team. Probably I'm a bit more mature now, so I know that I have to fight until the last point. Maybe that's why I'm doing it now. Even if you get broken, even if you are 4-0 down, like against Musetti, you still have to keep the focus and try to win those points to put yourself in the match,” Fils said, referring to the first set against Musetti, which he ended up losing but made it closer. “There is no take a 6-0 (loss) and (say), ‘Okay, we try to win the second set.’ No, it's not working like this.”

Fils fended off his match point against Musetti at 5-6 in the second set by not holding back. He crushed a forehand after seeing a 40-0 lead on serve dissipate. “Sometimes it will pay (off), sometimes not,” he said. “But maybe at the end I will win more points than lose.” He was convinced that 12 months ago, he would have lost to Giron after the second set went the way that it did.

Fils took instant control of the deciding set by slamming aces and winning the first eight points. His quarterfinal opponent is two-time desert finalist Daniil Medvedev. Medvedev topped Fils in their lone head to head in 2023. “He was younger, so it’s a different matchup now,” said Medvedev. “He plays good. I’ve watched his matches here. He’s in good shape.”