The quarterfinals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters are set, and we'll have the top two seeds in Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, but there will be some new faces who will be joining them as well.
One, Two, Easily Through
Much was made how Djokovic would show up after struggling to get through against Philipp Kohlschreiber. Against Taylor Fritz, there were no blips of those struggles as he thoroughly dominated the American from start to finish.
Grigor Dimitrov gave Nadal a good fight for most of the first set but after that, it was one-way traffic for the Spaniard. Nadal has faced two testing opponents and gotten through with ease to the last eight as he looks in fine form already in his first clay event already.
Three, Four Out The Door
For Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem, it was the exact opposite of ease. The third-seeded German who's struggled so far this year was hoping to gain momentum after a strong victory over Canadian teen Felix Auger-Alliassime in the previous round. However, he was sloppy all day which saw him exit at the hands of Fabio Fognini. Fognini will now take on Borna Coric who took out Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
Dominic Thiem had the racquet taken out of his hands at times and was left scrambling aplenty in the first set against Dusan Lajovic. The Serb has gotten results before on the Masters events on clay, but to dominate a former Masters and French Open finalist was surprising.
Upsets Continue
Two more big upsets took place on the day as Marco Cecchinato and Cameron Norrie exited. Cecchinato was coming off a huge victory over Stan Wawrinka which saw him crawl from losing the first nine games of the match before turning it around. The Italian leveled the match at a set all against Guido Pella, but the Argentine added another massive scalp to his list with his biggest test coming next against Nadal.
Norrie was the favorite by seed but with the way qualifier Lorenzo Sonego was playing this week, it would have come as no shock to some that he came through. Sonego was efficient on the day, dropping seven games en route to his first Masters quarterfinal. The Italians have had plenty of support this week with them coming in full voice for Fognini, Sonego, and Cecchinato.
By seed this was an upset, as Daniil Medvedev took out Stefanos Tsitsipas. Their last meeting in Miami last year, there was no love lost between the two. This time around the two shook hands as the Russian made it 4-0 in the head-to-head in his career against his fellow NextGen companion.