Fabio Fognini achieves the unthinkable in Monte Carlo after demolishing Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-2 in the semifinal.
How Fognini defeated Nadal
The Italian took full advantage of an extreme wind in Monte Carlo to play brilliant tennis when he was on both sides of the court. Fabio broke Nadal in the very first game (1-0), but then after he lost the next three games (1-3), it seemed that Rafa was about to make a meal of the Italian. Instead, Fognini (and the wind) were inside Rafa’s head. The King of Clay looked even scared to go for his shots as it was quite difficult to “lose” the ball with such a strong wind and if Rafa is not aggressive, he loses most of his strength. Fognini used the wind to inject lots of variations in the rallies to win the opening set 6-4.
In the second set, Nadal was utterly unable to find a solution, and the Italian conquered an incredible 5-0 lead. However, there was a bit of a drama when Fabio failed to convert 3 consecutive match points when leading 40-0 before being broken (5-1). The King of Clay managed to finally hold his serve in the next game (5-2) to add a little bit of thriller to the match. Nevertheless, Fognini didn’t fail to hold his serve for the second consecutive time to win the encounter 6-4 6-2 in 96 minutes.
Head to head Fabio Fognini vs. Dusan Lajovic
We are going to have an unexpected final in Monte Carlo since Fognini will face a Serbian that is not Novak Djokovic, but the world no.48 Dusan Lajovic. There is no head to head record since they have never played each other so far.
This is going to be interesting.
UNEXPECTED!!!!
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