ATP Mallorca: Fabio Fognini smiles, Luca Nardi does not

The tournament on the grass in Mallorca has begun

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Fabio Fognini advances to the second round of the Mallorca ATP 250 tournament on grass that began Monday in Santa Ponsa, just under 20 kilometers from the Balearic Islands capital Palma. The veteran former Top 10 player, currently number 97 in the world rankings, defeated Dutchman (number 190 ATP) Gijs Brouwer 7-6(4), 7-6(5), after one hour and forty-two minutes of play.

The fate for Luca Nardi was different: the class of 2003 è in fact surrendered to Australian Rinky Hijikata, who in the world rankings è two positions below the Italian tennis player (No. 73 vs. No. 75). 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 was the score by which Hijikata entered the second round, reacting to an excellent second set by Nardi, which, however, è was not enough for the final success.

For Fognini, that of Mallorca è the first tournament on the main circuit after Roland Garros: in between, the 37-year-old tennis player played two Challengers, in Perugia and Sassuolo, reaching the quarterfinals (knockout against Luciano Darderi) and the second round (defeat against Riccardo Bonadio), respectively.

Nardi, after Paris, had instead participated in 's-Hertogenbosch and Queens tournaments: in Holland he è stopped in the round of 16 against Sebastian Korda, while in England he è did not go beyond the first round, where è was defeated in three sets by Thanasi Kokkinakis.