Fabio Fognini Triumphs at the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters 2019

Published 04/21/2019, 1:13 PM EDT

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Fabio Fognini defeated Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-4 to lift his first Masters 1000 title at the Monte Carlo Masters on Sunday.

Fabio Fognini did not have the best of the start to the 2019 season. However, the Italian played the best tennis of his career on the first clay court tournament of the season. Fabio Fognini becomes the first Italian to win the Masters 1000 tournament ( since 1990).

Fabio Fognini came into the tournament without a victory over the top-50. But, he defeated the world no. 3 Alexander Zverev and the king of clay, Rafael Nadal en route to his biggest singles title. He started the tournament with a tough win over Andrey Rublev in three sets.

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After a walk-over in the round of 32, he thrashed the reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion, Alexander Zverev in straight sets. In the next match, the Italian struggled against Borna Coric in the first set but he came back to win the match after losing the first set 6-1.

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via Imago

Considering Fognini’s performance this season and Nadal’s dominance on clay, Rafael Nadal looked like the clear winner in the match up against Fognini. But Fabio Fognini shocked Rafael Nadal, beating him in straight sets against all the odds. With this victory over the world no.2 , Fabio Fognini reached the finals of the tournament against Dusan Lajovic.

It was a comfortable victory for Fabio Fognini in the finals against Lajovic. He dropped his opening service game but pushed back Lajovic to the baseline with his powerful backhand. After 2-2 in the first set, Fognini won two consecutive games to have an advantage of a break up. He grabbed the opening set in over 45 minutes.

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The second set was recap of the first set with Fabio Fognini breaking Lajovic serve in the fifth game. The Italian maintained the advantage of the break and won the set 6-4, claiming the first title of his season. Fabio Fognini certainly looks like one of the top contenders to get to the last stages of the Roland Garros. It will be interesting to see how the Italian carries his momentum in the next clay court tournaments.

via Imago

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Written by:

Varun Khanna

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Starting off as a tennis author in 2018, Varun Khanna has gone on to contribute to EssentiallySports in various capacities. After setting up interviews with the likes of Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou, Alizé Cornet, and Noah Rubin, Varun is now part of all major ATP and WTA press conferences and has gone on to pen more than 1300 articles for EssentiallySports. He now heads the tennis and NBA division of the organization.
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