The Rome Masters is into the last of the Quarter Final matches in the ATP event being played in the Italian capital and the two WTA Semi Final matches are scheduled for Thursday as well, although the weather will need to play ball.
It was the weather that changed the momentum of the Casper Ruud eventual win over Karen Khachanov and perhaps prevented the Norwegian from making it 2-0 for the Tennis Picks on Wednesday.
This has still been a decent tournament to add to the earlier positive clay court numbers and that is going to give the pages a boost ahead of the French Open, which is now a little over a week away from beginning at the end of the month.
Coco Gauff - 3.5 games v Sorana Cirstea: Retirement at the end of the season has already been announced, but there has to be some second thoughts in the Sorana Cirstea camp having played some of the best tennis of her career.
If the Rankings were released in the morning, Sorana Cirstea would be back at her career best World Ranking mark of Number 21 and she is very much trending towards cracking the top 20 for the first time. The veteran is also at Number 11 in the WTA Race to determine the best players in the world and Sorana Cirstea has upset Aryna Sabalenka during her run to the Semi Final here in Rome.
A confident player is a dangerous player and Cirstea has a very solid 10-2 record on the clay courts in the build up towards the French Open.
However, both losses have been against some of the better clay courters on the WTA Tour and one of those came at the hands of Coco Gauff at the Madrid Masters.
The defending French Open Champion has shown plenty of character to come through three setters in her run in Rome and Coco Gauff has long been very comfortable on the clay courts. This is a surface where a vulnerable second serve is not punished nearly as much as it is on the faster surfaces where recovering breaks of serve can be very difficult against the best players on the Tour.
On the clay courts, Coco Gauff will always feel she has enough quality from the return to neutralise rallies and ultimately break down an opponent and she is playing well on the surface this season. The numbers are not quite as good as the previous two seasons, but Gauff has shown she can dig in and overcome problems and that makes her the right favourite in this match.
Beating Sorana Cirstea in all three previous matches on the Tour, including twice this year, will also give the World Number 4 the confidence to push past this opponent again.
It was the Coco Gauff returning prowess that helped her beat Sorana Cirstea in Madrid and she created five more Break Points on the day.
Sorana Cirstea is playing with confidence and an almost 'nothing to lose' attitude, which makes her dangerous, but Coco Gauff can find those breaks of serve that helps her cover this spread set for this last four contest.
Daniil Medvedev - 3.5 games v Martin Landaluce: There have been flashes of his ability on the clay courts, but Daniil Medvedev has long stated his dislike for this part of the season and he is never that far from completely losing his temper when things are not panning out as expected. Little form had been shown prior to the arrival in Rome, which is the last big tournament Daniil Medvedev is set to take in before the French Open, but this is one of the clay court events that the World Number 9 has enjoyed.
In his career, Daniil Medvedev has reached one Quarter Final at the French Open and a couple of Fourth Round runs, but he has won the title here in Rome and followed up with back to back Fourth Round appearances.
He has already progressed at least one stage further here in Rome in 2026 and Daniil Medvedev is rightly set as the favourite to get the better of Lucky Loser Martin Landaluce.
The 20 year old is going to take another leap in the World Rankings thanks to his performances in the main draw, but the Spaniard is not the most convincing of clay courters.
In most cases you would expect anyone from his country to be very comfortable on the clay, but Martin Landaluce had a 4-4 record on the surface before winning one Qualifier and losing the other here in Rome. He earned a reprieve with the Lucky Loser spot, and Martin Landaluce has taken full advantage by winning three matches in a row without dropping a set, although this is another step up in level of opponent compared with what the youngster has faced in the main draw.
Martin Landaluce had never beaten a top 100 Ranked player on the clay courts in his career before his three main draw wins here, but none of the opponents beaten have been Ranked higher than Number 47 and so Daniil Medvedev should offer a much tougher challenge.
Confidence in putting a run like this together will make Martin Landaluce dangerous, but his serve can be vulnerable and that has been the main reason he had a 0-8 record against top 100 Ranked players on this surface before the last few days.
The expectation is that Daniil Medvedev can exert some pressure with his own serve and the higher Ranked player may have enough to cover this spread set.
MY PICKS: Coco Gauff - 3.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet365 (1 Unit)
Daniil Medvedev - 3.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet365 (1 Unit)
Rome Update: 5-2, + 1.94 Units (7 Units Staked, + 27.71% Yield)
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