By Tennis Now | Saturday, September 23, 2017
Fabio Fognini saved two match points in the second-set tie break then reeled off the final four points of the match outdueling Roberto Bautista Agut, 2-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5), to reach the St. Petersburg final.
Photo credit: St. Petersburg Open
Fabio Fognini was a fighter to the finish today.
Fognini saved two match points in the second-set tie break then reeled off the final four points of the match outdueling Roberto Bautista Agut, 2-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5), to reach the St. Petersburg final in stirring fashion.
Watch: Laver Cup Top Takeaways
Fognini fended off match points at 6-5 and 7-6 in the tie break, but kept calm and grinded through the second set.
Trailing 3-5 in the third-set tie break, Fognini broke down the top-seeded Spaniard winning four consecutive points to close a pulsating two hours, 27 minutes.
The 30-year-old Fognini will play for his sixth career title—and first career hard-court crown—when he faces Damir Dzumhur in tomorrow’s final five years after the theatrical Italian first contested the St. Petersburg title match.
Fognini is aiming for his second title of the season following his run to the Gstaad title on red clay in July. All five of Fognini’s career titles have come on clay.
In today’s first semifinal, Dzumhur defeated Jan-Lennard Struff, 6-3, 7-5, to advance to his second career ATP final.
The eighth-seeded Struff knocked second-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga out of the tournament yesterday, but Dzumhur hit his forehand with precision and power to prevail in one hour, 19 minutes.
“It was tough of course I was playing Jan-Lennard Struff, who has really hard shots, great serve,” Dzumhur said. “But I think I managed to return very well today and make him feel a lot of pressure on his serve. Then he was making some mistakes I didn’t expect.
“I was also serving better than yesterday. I was playing my forehand very well. So I think all of the things that were not working yesterday, I did very good today. In the end, I won.”
The 55th-ranked Dzumhur reached his first final since Winston-Salem last month when he lost to Bautista Agut, 6-4, 6-4.
“I had to be much calmer today than yesterday, but I was feeling very good in warm-up today,” Dzumhur said. “I knew my shots were better than yesterday. When you feel good on court sometimes you don’t have to be nervous—you know that the good game is going to come. Even though he broke me in the second set, in the start of the set, I broke him back and I was still playing very good. Sometimes you have to stay very calm.”
The 29th-ranked Fognini has won both prior meetings with Dzumhur—both contested on Umag’s red clay—this will be their first hard-court clash.