After making hard work of his Second Round win over Jordan Thompson, Stefanos Tsitsipas took all of his chances and dominated the big points in his comfortable win over Nuno Borges in the Third Round on Thursday to tick a winning selection.
We are moving into the Quarter Final Round on Friday with all four matches scheduled to be played- it was almost tempting to back Tsitsipas for a third time this week, but Lorenzo Musetti's performances have been strong enough to push back against that selection.
The feeling is that Carlos Alcaraz and Alex De Minaur will both win, but the handicap mark looks about right for both of those matches and just offers the underdog of covering, even in a losing effort.
That leaves just the one selection from the Quarter Final Round and that comes from the opening match of the day.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina - 2.5 games v Alexei Popyrin: Both of these players earned 'upsets' to take their place in the Monte Carlo Masters Quarter Final, although you have to believe Alejandro Davidovich Fokina would have been 'expecting' his win over Jack Draper more than Alexei Popyrin may have done when facing Casper Ruud.
The win for Popyrin deserves plenty of respect on this surface and the Australian has been using his serve to build pressure.
All three of Alexei Popyrin's wins have been in three sets and he has perhaps had a bit of fortune behind them when you think all three of his opponents actually created more Break Points in those defeats. Take nothing away from someone winning the big points to progress, but it is an unsustainable method and you do have to wonder if Popyrin could just run out of fuel in what is expected to be another tough clay court match.
His opponent has fallen down the World Rankings in recent months and comes into the tournament as the World Number 42, but Alejandro Davidovich Fokina is very comfortable on the clay courts. The Spaniard has also needed three sets in two of his three wins in Monte Carlo, but he has looked more convincing in his victories and that should give Davidovich Fokina some confidence to take into this Quarter Final.
The serve is not the most convincing, but Alejandro Davidovich Fokina is an effective return players on the surface.
This could be the key to the outcome of this match and Davidovich Fokina looks to have a considerable edge over Alexei Popyrin in that department. While not always being the player that can be trusted to produce his best on any given day, the Spaniard may still have enough here to win the match and cover this mark as the favourite.
MY PICKS: Alejandro Davidovich Fokina - 2.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet Victor (1 Unit)
Monte Carlo Update: 3-1, + 1.59 Units (4 Units Staked, + 39.75% Yield)
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