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Italian hits 31 winners in dominating performance
Fabio Fognini will remember this one.
In front of a packed Campo Centrale, the Italian No. 1 played one of the best matches of his career, blasting 23 forehand winners to upset World No. 1 and defending champion Andy Murray 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday during Murray's Internazionali BNL d'Italia opener in Rome.
Fognini becomes the first Italian to beat a World No. 1 since Filippo Volandri in 2007. Volandri defeated Roger Federer 6-2, 6-4 in the third round, also in Rome. Since then Italians had lost 22 in a row vs. World No. 1s.

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Murray, who didn't drop a set in Rome last year, becomes the first defending champion to lose in his opener in almost 10 years, since 2008, when Rafael Nadal fell to Juan Carlos Ferrero in his first match.
But past history mattered little on Tuesday evening, when Fognini hit Murray, a 14-time ATP World Tour Masters 1000 champion, off the court. The 29-year-old Italian jumped on the Scot from the start, breaking twice to lead 4-0. He held to love to take the opener in 40 minutes.
The onslaught continued in the second set, as the Italians grew comfortable and stayed boisterous at Foro Italico. Murray slapped a backhand long to give Fognini a set and a break lead at 2-1. Two games later, on Murray's serve, Fognini played as if he could do no wrong with his forehand, wielding the shot for a winner at 15/15 and 15/30.
At 30/40, Fognini, who finished with 31 overall winners, ripped another forehand that Murray couldn't handle at the net, and the Italian had a double-break lead in the second set.
The second-round shocker is Fognini's 10th victory against a Top 10 opponent in 56 matches (10-46), a winning percentage of about 18 per cent. Fognini will face Serbian Viktor Troicki or #NextGenATP star Alexander Zverev in the third round.
Learn More In Fognini's FedEx ATP Win/Loss
Murray arrived in Rome looking to turn around his 2017. The Scot, who turned 30 on Monday, hasn't played in a tour-level final since February, when he won his 45th tour-level title in Dubai (d. Verdasco).

Italian lifts first trophy of the 2017 season
Fabio Fognini was a man in command on Sunday at the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad, ousting Yannick Hanfmann 6-4, 7-5 to claim his fifth ATP World Tour title and first of the year.
Fognini played steady, attacking tennis en route to hoisting the trophy in the Swiss Alps mountain town of Gstaad. He fired 21 winners, including two aces, while committing just 11 unforced errors, to Hanfmann's 18. It was the first title for the Italian in just over a year, since prevailing on the clay of Umag in 2016. All five of his victories have come on the dirt.
"It's always a good feeling when you win," said Fognini. "Our job is winning matches and of course I'm happy with this. It was a really tough week for me. I remember my first match was really difficult. I couldn't play. I lost the first set 6-1 in 20 minutes, but in the end I won the match. I said to my team that if I continue playing like that, I'll go home. That's the sport. Every day I was feeling better and now I'm here with the title."
Both players exhibited little signs of rust after going the distance in all seven combined matches entering the final. Facing the German qualifier Hanfmann for the first time, Fognini was dialed in from the first ball, breaking immediately to open the match. Another break two games later would see him open an insurmountable 4-0 lead and the 30 year old would notch the first set after 40 minutes on Roy Emerson Arena.
Hanfmann fought off a break point in the first game of the second set, but with the first-time finalist pushing to force a tie-break, Fognini battled back from 40/15 down in the 11th game. He struck a backhand winner to claim the decisive break and served out the match a game later. The Italian closed out the victory on his first championship point after one hour and 33 minutes.
"Yes, for sure," Fognini said, when asked if the title is any sweeter as a new father. "This is the first title as a father, so it's something different and special."

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Fognini picks up €85,945 in prize money and 250 Emirates ATP Rankings points for a successful return to Gstaad. It was his first trip to the ATP World Tour 250 event in 10 years, since losing in the final round of qualifying in 2007. The World No. 29 is rediscovering his top form in his push to return to the Top 20, also coming off third round results at Roland Garros and Wimbledon and a quarter-final showing in Umag. Fognini is the third different Italian to reach the final in Gstaad and first to win the title, following runner-up finishes by Adriano Panatta in 1972 and '76 and Andreas Seppi in 2007.
Meanwhile, the 25-year-old Hanfmann will celebrate the best week of his professional career. In addition to winning six matches in seven days as a qualifier and claiming his first Top 50 win over defending champion Feliciano Lopez, the German saved four match points in upsetting Robin Haase in the semi-finals. Projected to soar nearly 50 spots to a career-high No. 125 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Hanfmann takes home €45,265 in prize money and 150 points.
"Fabio was the better man today, he deserves to win," said Hanfmann. "I had an amazing week here in Gstaad, the crowd was great. I come from college tennis and I'm used to great crowds, but the atmosphere here was unbelievable."