Fabio Fognini, with a performance that reminds the world of tennis who he is, enters the quarterfinals at the ATP 250 in Marrakech. The number 1 on the scoreboard, the Serbian, was defeated Laszlo Djere, for 7-6(1) 2-6 6-4 after two hours and 32 minutes. This marks the end of a very long Italian day, which started more than ten hours ago on the central court of the Moroccan tournament. Now the challenge will be to the Russian Pavel Kotovwhich he eliminated Flavio Cobolli.
The first set, although neither of them reached a break point, proved to be quite a contested one. In the second game Fognini is restarted at 40 all from 40-0, but holds the serve. Subsequently, Djere had the biggest problems, as he was forced to take advantage a couple of times, but nothing really happened (also because the Serbian tended to miss the field on important occasions). In the tie-break that inevitably follows, the first to take off is Fognini, who finds a couple of spells between the forehand and the defensive phase to take the lead at 4-1 with two minibreaks ahead. Fabio’s solo continues, so much so a running forehand from three meters outside the baseline brings the score to a close.
After a set totally devoid of break points, the second opens with the Ligurian losing serve to zero. This is a substantial green light for Djere, combined with the fact that Fognini drops slightly in pace. Another break arrives and, with it, the natural consequence called 4-0. There are very few emotions, and in the continuation of the partial there are no particular shocks. The result is that the 6-2 leads to the third set.
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In the first four games there is a good degree of fighting, even if the two manage to hold serve. The blue doesn’t make it in the fifth: another missed pass and the serve is lost again to zero. When all seems lost, Djere starts to make a little more mistakes than usual, and the first break point of the entire match arrives for Fognini. The Serbian scores with a forehand into the net after the serve: 4-4. A few minutes later, at 5-4, Fognini found himself with two match points; on the first he misses slightly in length, on the second Djere is good. A third also arrives with the Serbian who sends a forehand wide following an infinite exchange, but the service-forehand scheme makes no concessions. The fourth and fifth also go away (with the Taggiasco’s lob just long), but on the sixth the tape helps Fabio, who pounces on the ball and let the forehand be a finishing weapon.
The particular side of the match is linked to the number of points won: 97 for Djere, 90 for Fognini. Once again, tennis is not mathematics. When the Ligurian is involved, it is even less so. And in the meantime the Ligurian is getting closer to 90th place in the ATP ranking, thus attempting to secure a place at Roland Garros without worries.