Carlos Alcaraz has booked his spot in the Monte-Carlo Masters quarter-finals, but the defending champion's journey there was anything but smooth. After cruising through the first set 6-1 against Tomas Martin Etcheverry, the young Spaniard hit a major bump in the road.

The second set saw Alcaraz's game unravel, as he piled up a concerning 23 unforced errors and lost his rhythm completely. During this difficult stretch, he was heard telling his coach, Samuel Lopez, a worrying admission: "It’s really hard to trust it when I don’t have the feeling with the ball right now."

While Alcaraz ultimately steadied himself to close out the match, the mid-match struggle and his candid frustration raise questions about his form as the tournament enters its critical stages. The transition from hard courts to the demanding clay of Monte-Carlo is a classic test, and Alcaraz has already faced two opponents, Sebastian Baez and Etcheverry, who were well-acclimated to the surface.

The road gets even tougher now. Next, he faces Alexander Bublik, a player who holds a surprising 19-2 record on clay since last May and is currently on a 10-match winning streak on the surface. Alcaraz has yet to defeat Bublik in their previous meetings, adding another layer of intrigue to this quarter-final clash.

A title defence here would cement Alcaraz's status among the clay-court elite, placing him alongside legends like Rafael Nadal and his former coach Juan Carlos Ferrero. To achieve that, he'll need to rediscover that "feeling with the ball" quickly and navigate a draw that is proving to be a serious challenge.