Lorenzo Sonego surrenders to Davidovich Fokina: he’s out of Basel

Bitter debut for Lorenzo Sonego at the Basel ATP 500. The Turin native, number 45 in the ATP rankings, surrendered in two sets to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, number 8 in the seeding and number 18 in the rankings, who prevailed with a final score of 7-6 6-4 after a little more than two hours of play.

The Blue, in fact, had gotten off to a good start by snatching the serve from the Spaniard as early as the second game, before taking a 3-0 lead in an instant. However, the Spaniard’s reaction was immediate and he tied at 4-4, dragging the set to the tie-break, which he dominated 7-2.

In the second partial, Sonego failed to exploit a break point in the opening game, before saving two between the fourth and eighth games. In the 10th game, however, the Piedmontese surrendered his service, handing the victory to Davidovich Fokina.

Sonego must therefore bid farewell to the ‘Swiss Indoors Basel’. For the Azzurro, it is the second consecutive first-round knockout: at the ’ATP 250 in Stockholm, in fact, he had been eliminated in the opener by Ugo Humbert, later a finalist in the tournament.