Saturday April 22.

Albert Ramos-Vinolas continued his run of form at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Friday when he reached his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final in beating Monaco resident and fifth seed Marin Cilic.

Ramos-Vinolas, who is contesting his fifth clay-court tournament of the year (15-5 match record), experienced no let-up from Thursday’s victory over World No. 1 Andy Murray when he beat Cilic 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-2 in two hours and 33 minutes.

The 29-year-old Spaniard recorded his fifth Top 10 victory (5-26 lifetime) and he is now 18-11 on 2017. Cilic, who had not lost a set to Ramos-Vinolas in their previous three meetings (including one on clay at 2012 Hamburg), dropped to a 7-8 mark on the season.

Lucas Pouille came within two points of losing against Uruguayan No. 16 seed Pablo Cuevas on Friday, but fought back from a 3-5 deficit in the deciding set to win the quarter-final 6-0, 3-6, 7-5 in one hour and 58 minutes. The No. 11 seed kept hopes alive of a first French titlist at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters since Cedric Pioline hoisted the trophy in 2000 (d. Dominik Hrbaty).

Pouille, who reached his third ATP World Tour final at the Open 13 Marseille (l. to Tsonga) in February, will now take on Spanish No. 15 seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas as they both attempt to reach their first title match at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 level. Ramos-Vinolas beat fifth seed Marin Cilic earlier in the day.

Romain Arneodo walked on court at his home tournament at the start of the week with just 54 dollars in prize money to his name for 2017. On Friday, he and doubles partner Hugo Nys ousted third seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 6-2, 6-7(3), 10-3 to reach the semi-finals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, guaranteeing them to split at least 62,360 Euros.

Rafael Nadal will take on David Goffin on Saturday for a place in his 11th final at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, where he has lifted nine trophies and has an incredible 61-4 match record.
The Spanish superstar has never met 10th seed Goffin, who knocked out second seed and two-time former champion Novak Djokovic. Read Report & Watch Hot Shots.

Although 5’7” Schwartzman drops to 0-10 lifetime against opponents in the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final appearance will be rewarded on Monday with a place in the Top 40.

Novak Djokovic says that he did not hurt his right elbow despite a heavy fall during his three-set loss to Belgian David Goffin in the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters quarter-finals Thursday. But his hopes of returning to World No. 1 did take a hit.

In his post-match press conference, the winner of a record 30 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles said that he was more affected in the defeat to Goffin by the sun than the fall. During the third set, the ad side of the eastern end of the court was bathed in sunshine, with the deuce court in shadows. On back-to-backhand exchanges, just seeing the ball was a challenge.

“Elbow is fine. It’s just unfortunate I missed my chances in the beginning of the third set to go a double break up,” said Djokovic, who led 4-2 in the decider. “It was almost unplayable… I just got disturbed by that light. On 4-3 I lost that serve. On that side, it’s kind of hard to find timing when somebody’s kind of putting directly flashlight in your eyes… Both of us struggled on that side. He managed to hold serve on 5-all from that side, which was a great effort from him. But I couldn’t.”

David Goffin recorded the biggest win of his career on Friday when he broke a 14-match losing streak against the Top 3 in the Emirates ATP Rankings with a hard-fought and high-quality 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 victory over Novak Djokovic at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.

Tenth-seeded Belgian Goffin recovered from a 2-4 deficit in the deciding set and sealed victory on his fifth match point when second seed and two-time former champion Djokovic struck a backhand into the net.

When asked about facing Nadal, Goffin admitted, “It’s the biggest test you can have on clay. He likes to play here. He won nine times. It’s going to be very complicated. He runs all over the place. On clay, he can be a real wall.

“But I do have my own weapons. I have a good cross-court backhand. I can try to dictate the points, not let him play. I saw today that I could be even more aggressive than usual. I will need to repeat that if I want to win matches.”

So, here are results of the previous day of the tournament:

Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters