By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, April 20, 2019
Conjuring absurd angles and devious drop shots, Fabio Fognini showed magic touch throughout his adventurous trek through the Monte-Carlo Masters semifinals.
Today, Fognini pulled off his greatest trick of all.
Watch: 5 Mind-Blowing Clay Achievements
The imaginative Italian made 11-time champion Rafael Nadal and his 18-match Monte Carlo winning streak disappear.
Roaring back from 1-3 down, a torrid Fognini blazed through 11 of 14 games in a shocking 6-4, 6-2 sweep of the defending champion.
On a wild, windy afternoon, Fognini converted six of 10 break-point chances carving up the 33-time Masters champion in 96 minutes to reach his first Masters final.
The 13th-seeded Fognini is the Italian to reach the Monte Carlo final since Corrado Barazzutti in 1977.
"To beat him, it's amazing," Fognini said. "At 3-1 down after that of course I was saying to myself stay calm and try to play because it was really difficult it was really windy."
The 11-time Roland Garros champion struggled with the unruly wind and Fognini's unpredictable shot-making. Nadal called it his "worst match on clay in 14 years."
The second-ranked Nadal had won 25 straight sets in Monte Carlo and carried an imposing 71-4 record in the Principality into his 14th semifinal in the Principality.
None of that mattered much to Fognini, who straddled the baseline, took the ball on the rise, cracked drives into the corners and put on a shot-making clinic nearly dishing out a second-set bagel to the king of clay.
Fognini more than doubled Nadal's winner output—21 to 10—joining Novak Djokovic, Dominic Thiem and Gaston Gaudio as the fourth man to post at least three clay-court victories over Nadal.
Though Nadal had dominated this rivalry winning 11 of 14 prior meetings with Fognini, he knows exactly how dangerous the former Australian Open doubles champion can be when on form. Fognini's ability to take the ball on the rise, disguise the direction of his shots, close at net and use his fabulous feel to bamboozle the Australian Open finalist can make Nadal unsettled.
This clay-court stunner comes nearly four years to the day after Fognini produced moments of shot-making magic and exploited nervous lapses to upset Nadal 6-4, 7-6 (6), in a two-hour Barcelona thriller.
That was Nadal's earliest exit in Barcelona since 2003 and was Fognini's second straight clay-court victory over Nadal, following his 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 triumph capped with a dazzling match point in the 2015 Rio semifinals.
That Rio upset snapped Nadal's 52-match winning streak in clay-court semifinals.
Today, Fognini again out-dueled Nadal on dirt.
The 31-year-old Italian arrived in Monte-Carlo with a five-match losing streak on clay and looked down and out trailing Andrey Rublev, 6-4, 4-1, in his opener before turning it around and roaring back for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory.
Fognini sent Italian fans into a frenzy and should enjoy crowd support when he faces fellow first-time Masters finalist Dusan Lajovic in tomorrow's final.
The red-hot Lajovic was down 1-5 when he reeled off 10 consecutive games igniting a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Daniil Medvedev, a day after the towering Russian toppled world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
Unraveling in the unruly wind, Lajovic sailed a forehand handing Medvedev his second break and a 5-1 lead.
The 10th-seeded Russian twice served for the opening set, but could not close.
Thumping the ball with more authority and playing closer to the lines, Lajovic occasionally mixed in short slice dragging the 6’6” Medvedev forward to confront awkward shots that bounded shin-high.
An energized Lajovic completely turned the match around reeling off 10 straight games transforming a 1-5 deficit into a 7-5, 3-0 lead.
A shell-shocked Medvedev shanked a forehand to drop the 61-minute opener swiping his Tecnifibre racquet at the red clay in frustration.
Things got worse for the Sofia champion, who nudged a shot into net to drop serve to start the second set. Lajovic stretched the second set lead to 4-0 before Medvedev finally snapped his slide.
Lajovic has not surrendered a set sweeping all 10 sets he's played powering into his first ATP final.
Tomorrow's final will be the first meeting between Lajovic and the 13th-seeded Fognini, who received a celebratory hug and kiss from wife Flavia Pennetta after this semifinal stunner.