It does mean a fast moving tournament is into the final two days with the Semi Final matches scheduled for Saturday.
Some of the top names have been playing here this week with this being the first big step on the road to the French Open, but it is the defending Roland Garros Champion who is the highest Seed remaining in the tournament.
His opponent secured an easy win for the Tennis Picks in the Quarter Final and that has just ensured a solid bounce back after losing the first selection of the clay court season. There are still three potential Picks to be made before we can come to a conclusion on this being a positive week or not, but we are in a good position moving into Semi Final day.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina + 4.5 games v Carlos Alcaraz: The feeling was that Alejandro Davidovich Fokina would have too much clay court nous for Alexei Popyrin, but it still came as a slight surprise that he was able to win that Quarter Final without any issues at all.
The Spaniard did not face a Break Point in that win, and was able to create nine chances with three Breaks produced, but everyone on his team will be expecting a vastly tougher challenge when going up against the World Number 3.
Rafael Nadal had been the dominant clay court player in his time on the Tour and likely goes down as the greatest player on the surface, but Spanish tennis has been given a boost by the arrival of Carlos Alcaraz on the Tour. He is already a multiple time Grand Slam Champion and the World Number 3 is the defending French Open Champion, while likely going into Roland Garros as the favourite to win the title again.
However, it has not been the easiest of weeks for Carlos Alcaraz and he was given a real test in his Quarter Final win over Arthur Fils.
Players at the very elite level of tennis are always going to be looking for improvements and Carlos Alcaraz will certainly feel he can serve better than he has so far this week. His last two opponents have both created at least ten Break Points against him and that is something that Alejandro Davidovich Fokina will look to exploit in his bid to earn the upset.
Of course the lower Ranked Spaniard is going to be have to be well aware of the returning power that Carlos Alcaraz has on any clay court.
It has been that aspect of his tennis that has helped him through to the Semi Final here and Alcaraz will not be overly concerned about the serve of the World Number 42, even if Davidovich Fokina is a player that can rally with just about anybody on the clay.
This is likely to be a tough match for both, much like it was when they met in Barcelona two years ago.
On that occasion Carlos Alcaraz was able to come through in two competitive sets, but both players managed to produce eleven Break Points and it was only converting four Breaks to three that helped Alcaraz to the victory.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina has played well enough here in Monte Carlo to believe he can at least push the younger man again and this looks like plenty of games to be given to the former. There will be some moments where Davidovich Fokina is going to have to fend off the Carlos Alcaraz charge, but he is certainly capable of returning well enough to create opportunities of his own and ultimately that may see him cover, even in a likely losing effort.
MY PICKS: Alejandro Davidovich Fokina + 4.5 Games @ 2.10 Paddy Power (1 Unit)
Monte Carlo Update: 4-1, + 2.39 Units (5 Units Staked, + 47.80% Yield)
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