Seventeen years after making his debut in Estoril, Fabio Fognini can still deliver high-quality performance at the ATP 250 event. Fabio took down his compatriot Alessandro Giannesssi 6-2, 6-1 in 57 minutes for his season’s best display.
Fognini came to Estoril with a 1-7 score in 2023, losing ground and barely remaining in the top-100. The Italian played like in his best days on Monday, toppling his rival on serve and return to sail into the last 16. Fognini dropped ten points behind the initial shot and lost serve once from the only chance offered to his opponent.
It was not enough for Giannessi to remain competitive, giving away almost 60% of the points in his games and losing serve six times to propel the rival through. Alessandro entered the court with a bandage on his left knee typed, producing a fine hold in the encounter’s first game.
Fabio Fognini defeated Alessandro Giannessi in under an hour in Estoril.
Fabio responded with a hold at 15 in game two and earned two break chances in the next one after the opponent’s volley error at the net. Giannessi netted a routine forehand on the second to drop serve and push his older compatriot in front.
Doing everything right so far, Fabio fired a service winner in game four for a hold at love and a 3-1 advantage. Alessandro sprayed another forehand error in the fifth game and faced a break point. Fognini clinched it with a forehand down the line winner to increase the lead and gain more boost.
Fabio grabbed the sixth game at love following a service winner to open a 5-1 gap and force the rival to serve to stay in the set. Giannessi held at 30 to prolong the action before Fognini produced a fine hold at 5-2 with a drop shot winner to wrap up the set in swift 28 minutes.
Alessandro netted another forehand at the start of the second set to experience a break and fall further behind. Fabio held in game two and grabbed another break in the next one for a massive 6-2, 3-0 advantage. Giannessi pulled one break back in game four to reduce the deficit before giving serve away a few minutes later to fall 4-1 behind.
Fognini returned at 5-1 and clinched the fourth consecutive break that pushed him over the top and into the second round.
