Rome, Fabio Fognini struggles and goes to the second round

Rome, Fabio Fognini struggles and goes to the second round

Fabio Fognini, world number 92 and who entered the draw thanks to a wild card, beat Britain’s Daniel Evans, number 67 in the ATP rankings, 6-4 3-6 6-2 in the first round of the Internazionali d’Italia in Rome on the clay of the Foro Italico. In the second round, the Ligurian from Arma di Taggia, who will turn 37 on May 24, will face U.S. Taylor Fritz, the tournament’s No. 11 seed.

Three breaks in the first three games of the match and two are in favor of Fognini who then goes to 3-1 but gets caught up at 3-3. Here he breaches his opponent for the third time out of four and this time manages to maintain the lead, while nullifying a break point in each of his remaining service turns of the set, and closes the partial at the second set point.

A break decides the second set in favor of Evans, who wins it in the second game. On 4-2 Fabio has two counterbreak points but does not exploit them, the Briton already has a set point on 5-2 when he serves the Ligurian but then closes on his serve at the second chance in the next game.

Fognini saved himself from 0-40 on his own serve on the’1-1 of the third set, in the next game he snatched it from the Briton but immediately lost it again. Here forò the veteran Italian strung together three consecutive games, with two breaks, giving him victory on the second match point after two and a half hours of play.