TENNIS RIO OPEN – David Ferrer cruised past Fabio Fognini with 6-2 6-3 in one hour and 23 minutes at the Rio Open in Rio de Janeiro to win his second title of the year after Doha and his eighth ATP 500. With his first title in the Brazilian city thirty-two year-old Ferrer claimed his 23rd trophy in his career and his seventh triumph in the South-American Golden Swing. Before Rio the Spanish star had claimed three wins in Buenos Aires in 2012 and 2014 and Acapulco in 2010 and 2012. Diego Sampaolo
Ferrer played a perfect match, while Fognini made 29 unforced errors (17 in the first set).
In the opening set Fognini dropped his serve twice. In the fourth game Fognini faced four break points. Ferrer converted on his fourth break point chance to open up a 3-1 lead after a very long rally which ended with an unforced error from Fognini. Ferrer sealed the first set with another break in the sixth game. Fognini broke serve in the second set but Ferrer wrapped up the match a few minutes later with 6-2 6-3 in one hour and 23 minutes.
Despite the defeat Fognini enjoyed a memorable week in which he stunned Rio Open defending champion Rafael Nadal in a fantastic semifinal where he bounced back from a set down to win 1-6 6-2 7-5 on his third match point but he was probably too tired in the final. The Italian will move up to World Number 23 in the ATP Ranking. Fognini converted on five of his nine break points and 32 winners. Nadal was too tired after his 3-hour and 18 minute marathon match against Pablo Cuevas in the quarter final. Ferrer beat Austrian Andreas Haider Maurer 7-5 6-1.
Fognini broke Nadal’s 52-match winning streak in clay semifinals and put an end to his 23-match losing streak against top 5 players. Before the Rio semifinal Fognini had never beaten Nadal in their previous four head-to-head clashes.
