Fabio Fognini strikes back!

It only took 90 minutes for Fabio Fognini to hand the world No.3, Alexander Zverev, a decisive loss at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. Prior to this meeting, the Italian had not taken a set off Alexander Zverev!

Fognini who had entered the tournament with seven losses in his past eight tour-level matches, struggled to close his first-round match against Andrey Rublev. But, in front of an energized crowd, he won 30 out of 40 first serves to defeat Zverev 7-6(6), 6-1.  The German had won both of their previous meetings in straight sets, and the first set of this encounter could have gone either way.

The match was plagued with many unforced errors; Zverev finishing the match with 11 winners to 25 unforced errors and Fognini with 19 winners to 24 unforced errors. The Italian had to serve twice to stay in the set, at 4-5 and 5-6. Holding both of those service games, he forced a tie-breaker, and after missing his first set point at 6-5 with a forehand error, he closed it on his second set point, serving and volleying. Once he secured the first serve, Fognini rolled through the second set in 33 minutes.

With this win Fognini has reached the fifth Masters 1000 quarterfinal of his career, the last of which was in Rome last year, and Zverev, the No. 3 seed became the latest big name to exit the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in the round of 16.

The ninth seed, Borna Coric, is Fognini’s next opponent in the quarter-finals. The Italian defeated Coric in their only previous meeting at the 2014 Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag.

“Coric is a really good fighter. He fights a lot. He won so many matches last year,” Fognini said. “I have to be happy for sure and enjoy my match from tonight, recover well, that’s the most important thing and try my best.”

We are anticipating a great next match!

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