Spoiler:
Jannik Sinner improved to 4-0 against fellow Italians with a three-set win over Fabio Fognini Wednesday evening at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia.
In a back-and-forth match that included several dominant stretches from both players, Sinner surrendered a break advantage in the deciding set but pushed over the line with a final surge to earn a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
"It was a tough one for sure. I tried to play my best tennis, especially in the important points," the 10th seed said in an on-court interview. "In the second set, he raised his level. He played better than me. In the third set it was a little bit of a rollercoaster. Fortunately I've done a great job in the final set to manage to break him first, and this for sure was the key today."
Sinner improved to 23-5 on the season as she seeks his fifth quarter-final of the year, while Fognini dropped to 12-9. The 34-year-old has made two clay-court finals in 2022, reaching that stage in Rio de Janeiro and Belgrade. The World No. 13 Sinner moved up one spot to No. 12 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings with the victory and can push all the way to No. 7 with the Rome title. That result would earn him a new career-high in next week's Pepperstone ATP Rankings, surpassing his previous high of No. 9, first achieved last November.
The 20-year-old enjoyed greater success in short points in the Centre Court matchup, while the veteran Fognini got the better of the longer rallies, including on two break points which he ended with scorching baseline winners. But after a world-class forehand earned him his third break of the match to get back on serve at 3-4 in the decider, Fognini dropped serve behind two double faults, finishing with nine in the match.
That would be the final twist in a topsy-turvy match, as Sinner served it out to love in the ensuing game to match his best result in Rome by reaching the last 16.
"He's a great friend," Sinner said of his opponent. "He gave me a lot of confidence when I played with him in Davis Cup. He's a very special player, like today, he can raise his level incredibly fast."
Fognini won the first six points of the contest but then lost the next seven as Sinner secured an early break and cruised to the opening set. Fognini then won eight points in a row midway through the second to take a break lead, but needed a brilliant break-point backhand to reclaim the advantage and cap a run of three games against serve.
In the third set, Sinner won 12 straight points to lead 4-1 before Fognini earned the break back. But Fognini's 39 errors proved too much to overcome as Sinner won eight of the last nine points to prevail.
The ebb and flow of the match was neatly illustrated by the Balance of Power metric. The winner of each set also won out in that statistic, which measures the percentage of shots hit from an attacking position. The greatest margin came in the final set, as shown below.
Balance of Power, Fognini vs. Sinner
Sinner advances to Filip Krajinovic on Thursday after the Serbian's 6-2, 6-4 win over sixth seed Andrey Rublev.
In a back-and-forth match that included several dominant stretches from both players, Sinner surrendered a break advantage in the deciding set but pushed over the line with a final surge to earn a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
"It was a tough one for sure. I tried to play my best tennis, especially in the important points," the 10th seed said in an on-court interview. "In the second set, he raised his level. He played better than me. In the third set it was a little bit of a rollercoaster. Fortunately I've done a great job in the final set to manage to break him first, and this for sure was the key today."
Sinner improved to 23-5 on the season as she seeks his fifth quarter-final of the year, while Fognini dropped to 12-9. The 34-year-old has made two clay-court finals in 2022, reaching that stage in Rio de Janeiro and Belgrade. The World No. 13 Sinner moved up one spot to No. 12 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings with the victory and can push all the way to No. 7 with the Rome title. That result would earn him a new career-high in next week's Pepperstone ATP Rankings, surpassing his previous high of No. 9, first achieved last November.
The 20-year-old enjoyed greater success in short points in the Centre Court matchup, while the veteran Fognini got the better of the longer rallies, including on two break points which he ended with scorching baseline winners. But after a world-class forehand earned him his third break of the match to get back on serve at 3-4 in the decider, Fognini dropped serve behind two double faults, finishing with nine in the match.
That would be the final twist in a topsy-turvy match, as Sinner served it out to love in the ensuing game to match his best result in Rome by reaching the last 16.
"He's a great friend," Sinner said of his opponent. "He gave me a lot of confidence when I played with him in Davis Cup. He's a very special player, like today, he can raise his level incredibly fast."
Fognini won the first six points of the contest but then lost the next seven as Sinner secured an early break and cruised to the opening set. Fognini then won eight points in a row midway through the second to take a break lead, but needed a brilliant break-point backhand to reclaim the advantage and cap a run of three games against serve.
In the third set, Sinner won 12 straight points to lead 4-1 before Fognini earned the break back. But Fognini's 39 errors proved too much to overcome as Sinner won eight of the last nine points to prevail.
The ebb and flow of the match was neatly illustrated by the Balance of Power metric. The winner of each set also won out in that statistic, which measures the percentage of shots hit from an attacking position. The greatest margin came in the final set, as shown below.
Balance of Power, Fognini vs. Sinner
Sinner advances to Filip Krajinovic on Thursday after the Serbian's 6-2, 6-4 win over sixth seed Andrey Rublev.
