TENNIS BRASIL OPEN – The Italian number 1 Fabio Fognini made his debut in Sao Paolo by beating Diego Schwartzmann 6/3, 1/6, 6/2. It is the first win of 2015 for Fognini in singles. Bruno Bergareche Sans
Geniuses are unpredictable. Capable of the best and the worst, you never know what you’re going to get from them. Fabio Fognini falls directly into this category. The Italian showed his great potential in 2013 and 2014, picking up titles at Viña del Mar, Hamburg and Stuttgart, along with three more final appearances, which helped him to reach an all-time high ranking of 13.
This year things haven’t quite gone according to plan for the wizard of San Remo, at least from a singles point of view (he got his hands on the Australian Open doubles title partnering Simone Bolelli), with defeats to Del Potro in Sydney and Alejandro Gonzalez at the Australian Open, but he finally broke his duck today with a 6/3 1/6 6/2 win against Diego Schwartzmann in the Brasil Open. Fognini needed an hour and 37 minutes to defeat one of the most improved players of 2014 to get his Latin American swing off to a positive start. But like many of the Italian’s matches it was an up and down affaire, which could have gone either way. Fognini saved up to nine break points and even came back from a break down in the third when it seemed the momentum was strongly in the Argentine’s favour. This sort of hard-fought win is the kind of thing Fognini needs to boost his confidence, to prove to himself that he can overcome difficulties. And if he’s got that confidence to go with his game, not many players out there can live with his sublime touch.
After the win, Fognini stated: “I played a solid first set, and I’m satisfied because I managed to survive. The first match on clay after a long time away from this surface is always tough. I’m happy for having shown my fighting spirit, something I missed in recent times. Tomorrow I have another chance”. Tomorrow that chance will come against Santiago Giraldo, another player who has struggled to rekindle his form from last year. The huge hitting Colombian prevailed 4/6 7/5 6/3 against Carlos Berlocq, one of the biggest grinders out there on clay, and someone you have to be willing to roll your sleeves up against if you want to come away with a win that sets up a mouth watering quarter final. “Fabio is very experienced. It’s going to be a very difficult match”, said Giraldo of his upcoming opponent who he has a 2-2 head-to-head record against.
Other round of 16 results included a surprise three-set win for Dusan Lajovic over Fernando Verdasco and a first ever ATP Tour win for qualifier Luca Vanni over Thiemo De Bakker. The Italian now faces Lajovic in the quarter finals as he looks to continue his fairytale run.
