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Italian next plays Andujar or Delbonis
Fabio Fognini reached the quarter-finals at a tour-level event for the first time since April on Thursday, overcoming Pedro Martinez 6-4, 7-6(5) at the Argentina Open.

The Italian advanced to the final at the ATP 250 event in 2014 and set the wheels in motion for another deep run this week against the Spaniard.

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The fourth seed struck the ball with great depth as he outmanoeuvred Martinez with his heavy topspin groundstrokes to advance after two hours and five minutes.

In a hard-fought match, Fognini rallied from a break down in the first set and recovered from squandering a match point on Martinez's serve at 4-5, 30/40 in the second set to eventually triumph in their first ATP Head2Head meeting.

Fognini is making his 13th appearance in Buenos Aires and will next face the 36-year-old Pablo Andujar or sixth-seeded Argentine Federico Delbonis. The last time Fognini reached the quarter-finals at a tour-level event was also on clay at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters 10 months ago.

Dutch duo Haase/Middelkoop into Rotterdam final

The Buenos Aires crowd will have two Argentines to support in the doubles final, but their home heroes will be on opposite sides of the net.

Horacio Zeballos and Italy’s Fabio Fognini advanced on Saturday to book their spot in the Argentina Open final against Friday winners Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Andres Molteni. The second seeds defeated Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar, 4-6, 6-2, 10-8, in their second straight Match Tie-break victory.

Fognini and Zeballos surrendered a 5-0 lead in the decisive tie-break, but responded by winning the last two points of the contest to advance. The Italian/Argentine pairing won 71 per cent of their first-serve points in the match and regrouped after conceding two breaks in the opening set.

For former doubles World No. 7 Fognini, it’s a second ATP Tour doubles final on the young season. He teamed with Simone Bolelli to reach the Sydney final in January. His most recent doubles title came in 2018 alongside compatriot Matteo Berrettini in St. Petersburg.

Zeballos is the current doubles World No. 6 and reached a career-high of No. 3 in 2019. The 36-year-old has 18 career tour-level doubles titles, including two Masters wins in 2021 (Madrid, Cincinnati) with Marcel Granollers. Granollers and Zeballos reached the Australian Open semi-finals in January before bowing out to eventual champions Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios.

Dutch Duo Haase/Middelkoop Reach Rotterdam Final
There will also be home representation in the Rotterdam doubles final, thanks to a second consecutive Match Tie-break victory from Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop in Saturday’s semis.

The unseeded pairing defeated the third-seeded French team of Nicolas Mahut and Fabrice Martin, 7-6(5), 2-6, 10-6, to reach their first ATP Tour final together since 2019 at the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament. They are seeking their first title as a pair since 2018, when they won three.

After a straight-set dismissal of the top seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in their opening match, Haase/Middelkoop beat Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen in a Match Tie-Break to reach the semi-finals.

The Dutchmen were at their best at the most crucial moments on Saturday, advancing despite trailing in both tie-breaks and claiming just a single break of serve on seven opportunities. From 4-5 down in the decider, they won six of the match’s last seven points, including the last four on the trot.

Another unseeded team awaits in the final. Lloyd Harris and Tim Puetz also went the distance in a 7-6(3), 4-6, 10-7 win over fourth seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski to reach the championship match.

Top seeds Arevalo/Rojer knocks off Americans in Dallas
Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer have not dropped a set on their way to the Dallas Open final, but just one of those frames was settled in fewer than 12 games.

In Saturday’s semi-finals, the top seeds earned a 7-5, 7-6(4) victory over Americans Sam Querrey and Jackson Withrow to extend their tie-break record to 3-0 on the week. After contesting their second semi-final of 2022 (Melbourne), Arevalo and Rojer are through to their first title match of the young season. They're seeking a second title as a team following a 2021 Winston-Salem triumph.

The Salvadoran/Dutch duo will play Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara after the British-Finn pair edged John Isner and Jack Sock 6-7(4), 7-5, 10-8 in one hour and 32 minutes.

It is the second tour-level final the unseeded tandem has reached this reason, after they advanced to the championship match in Montpellier last week.

‘Tis the season for Fabio Fognini. The Italian called the South American clay-court swing his “favourite place to be" after extending his stay in Rio de Janeiro with a battling three-hour victory over fourth seed Pablo Carreno Busta.

Wednesday’s 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 result improves Fognini’s record to 13-6 at the Rio Open presented by Claro, including final (2015) and semi-final (2018) appearances.

“For sure I’m happy because of the feeling that I worked,” the World No. 38 said post-match. “I’m really happy of course about my victory and my performance, especially because I was fighting until the end.

“In Rio I have really good memories. This South American swing has always been my favourite place to be, so I’m really happy to be back in the quarter-finals here in Rio.”

Fognini won the first seven points of the match as he took an early 2-0 lead and cut a relaxed figure as he pushed it to 5-3 with free hitting off both baseline wings. But things got tense as he failed to serve out the set at 5-4, squandering two set points on a pair of forehand miscues.

In a six-deuce 12th game, Carreno Busta broke to finish a 63-minute set.

The Spaniard looked on course for victory as he created three break points across two games midway through the second, but Fognini hung in and eventually made his own breakthrough on his fourth break point of the set.

The decider opened with a trade of breaks, and after Carreno Busta edged in front at 3-2, the Italian raised his level to win the last four games and advance. Fognini will face unseeded Argentine Federico Coria in Friday’s quarter-finals.

Italians earn fourth tour-level doubles title together
Italians Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini claimed their fourth tour-level doubles title together on Sunday evening when they defeated third seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 7-5, 6-7(2), 10-6 to win the Rio Open presented by Claro.

The countrymen did double duty on Sunday, winning their semi-final against Santiago Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 7-6(4), 6-2 earlier in the day. Fognini also played two singles matches Saturday, reaching the semi-finals before falling against eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz.

“Fabio is amazing, he was playing singles all week with a lot of delays because of rain, but did not give up on the doubles and here we are with the title,” Bolelli said.

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The last time the pair had triumphed was at the 2015 Australian Open. Bolelli is a nine-time tour-level doubles titlist and Fognini has lifted six tour-level doubles trophies.

The Italians won 64 per cent of their second-serve points compared to 50 per cent for their opponents. Bolelli and Fognini saved four of the six break points they faced.

Murray and Soares were pursuing their first title of the season. Soares, a Brazilian, was trying to earn glory in Rio de Janeiro for the first time.

“Sorry for Bruno, I know how much it means for a Brazilian to win in Rio,” Fognini said. “I love playing here, the fans carried me all week, all the way to this title.”

Fognini owns the most wins of any Italian male
Fabio Fognini made history on Thursday afternoon in Indian Wells.

By rallying past Spaniard Pablo Andujar 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the second round of the BNP Paribas Open, Fognini passed former World No. 4 Adriano Panatta for the most wins by an Italian male in history with 392.

“It’s nice for sure. I didn’t know before the match, believe me,” Fognini told ATPTour.com. “They are just statistics, but of course I’m happy. Now they compare me to the big ones. Adriano was an idol when I was young, so I’m really happy. It’s not the end. I’ll continue fighting and let’s see what happens."

Most Wins By An Italian Male

Player Wins
1. Fabio Fognini 392
2. Adriano Panatta 391
3. Andreas Seppi 386
4. Corrado Barazzutti 317
5. Renzo Furlan 223
Fognini claimed his first tour-level win in 2006 in Amersfoort. Since then, he has lifted nine ATP Tour trophies, including an ATP Masters 1000 triumph at the 2019 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. The 34-year-old, who has climbed as high as No. 9 in the ATP Rankings, did not necessarily expect to accomplish all he has.

“If I have to be honest, not really. But you go day by day, tournament by tournament, year by year. If I’m looking back at my career, I did something great. Probably in the past two months, especially after Australia I started enjoying a little more my tennis, even if it’s difficult traveling without my family,” Fognini said. “This job is not going to go forever, so I’m trying to enjoy my last years of competition and we’ll see. But at the moment I’m happy for sure.”

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The Italian, who will next face 2021 finalist Nikoloz Basilashvili, is trying to regain his form following arthroscopic surgery on both his ankles in May 2020. Now he feels motivated and it showed in his comeback against Andujar.

“It was not easy because the conditions were not great conditions. It’s windy, it’s cold. It changes constantly,” Fognini said. “But I’m happy the way I’m fighting and of course that at the end I won my match.”