The Quarter Final matches at the four big events being played this week have all been scheduled for action on Friday, but there are only two selections from the matches available.
After a 3-0 start to the week, the hope is that these two selections can continue the positive start to the clay court season.
One of those comes from the ATP 500 tournament being played in Barcelona and the other from the WTA 500 tournament in Stuttgart.
Some of the top contenders for the French Open title can lay down an early marker at these 500 events, although there are still bigger events to be played in Madrid and Rome at the 1000 level.
However, as mentioned earlier this week, the Masters event in Madrid tends to have a very different feel to the other events during this European clay court run and may be one to keep a watching brief before the Rome event and the last run up into the second Grand Slam of the season.
Rafael Jodar - 3.5 games v Cameron Norrie: It was never going to be easy being the next player to break through in British Tennis during the Andy Murray era, but Cameron Norrie has put together a strong career. He continues to be a brilliant competitor every time he steps onto the court and there is something to be said about that.
At his peak, Cameron Norrie reached World Number 8, while he reached the second week at all of the Grand Slam events with his best effort being a Semi Final run at Wimbledon in 2022. This is an all-court player who reached the French Open Fourth Round for the first time just last year and Cameron Norrie has battled through a couple of Rounds to reach the Quarter Final here in Barcelona this week.
Later this year, Cameron Norrie is turning 31 and there was a feeling several months ago that his best tennis was now behind him.
No one will suggest this is a flashy player, but Norrie will grind every time he steps on the court and his numbers are pretty similar across the surfaces.
Cameron Norrie serves well enough on the clay courts and will get himself into the return rallies to remain dangerous, and the veteran is sure to have learned plenty out of the one-sided defeat suffered to Rafael Jodar on the hard courts of Acapulco in February.
On that day, the young Spaniard won 82% of his service points played and broke the Cameron Norrie serve three times and Rafael Jodar has continued his 2026 form on the clay courts with two solid wins at this event.
That comes after winning a title in Bucharest at an ATP 250 level and Jodar has looked comfortable at this 500 level, although he will respect the fact that he is facing the highest Ranked opponent on this surface so far this season.
Rafael Jodar was not at his very best in the Second Round, but he continues to serve really effectively and that is allowing him to build real pressure on the return. Those numbers on that side of the court are really impressive and it feels like the 19 year old is going to have enough to get past Cameron Norrie.
It should be closer than the meeting in Acapulco now that Norrie has had a proper look at the opponent, but Rafael Jodar is on track to really move up the World Rankings and this is a surface that should favour him to enough of an extent to earn the win and the over of the spread set.
Coco Gauff - 3.5 games v Karolina Muchova: The French Open Final was played in some incredibly difficult conditions, but credit has to be given to Coco Gauff for holding it together for longer than Aryna Sabalenka to win that Grand Slam in 2025.
She has long been very comfortable on the clay courts and Coco Gauff would have been confident of winning the French Open after recent experiences on the surface. Last year, Gauff put together another impressive year on the clay, although the one poor tournament was right here in Stuttgart.
A comfortable win in the Second Round will have given Coco Gauff early momentum and she is going to be happy with the match up in this Quarter Final.
Karolina Muchova is a former French Open Finalist, but she has not played too much clay court tennis over the last couple of years.
That takes away nothing from the ability Muchova has shown to play on all courts, but she has lost all six Tour meetings against Coco Gauff and this has proven to be a difficult opponent to work out.
Karolina Muchova has put together two solid wins in Stuttgart, but she has simply not been able to impose her serve on Coco Gauff in those previous six matches. That is going to be even tougher to achieve on the clay courts, while the World Number 3 has to be credited for getting more out of the first serve on this surface.
This could become an awkward spread where the line currently stands.
However, Coco Gauff's comfort on the clay courts gives her every chance of maintaining the advantage over Karolina Muchova with another win over this opponent.
MY PICKS: Rafael Jodar - 3.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet365 (1 Unit)
Coco Gauff - 3.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet365 (1 Unit)
Weekly Update: 3-0, + 2.54 Units (3 Units Staked, + 84.67% Yield)
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