Fognini wins against Bedene and goes to the round of 16 at the Hamburg European Open: at the end of the match the tension rises but after a few minutes the situation returns without problems.
Fabio Fognini beat the Slovenian Aljaž Bedene in the first round on the red clay of Hamburg and goes to the round of 16. The competition ended with the score of 6-3 3-6 7-6 (5) in two and a half hours of play: now the blue will face the Russian Karen Khachanovseventh seeding force and number 26 in the international ranking, in the next round.
The blue took the first set (6-3) in 42 minutes but in the second half the Slovenian went on to win at 6-3 in just over half an hour. Fognini in the third and decisive set canceled five break points in the first game and then in the tiebreak ahead for 5 to 2 with two minibreaks he lost both services but on 5 to 4 he placed a new minibreak and at the second useful match point he closed the game for 7 points to 5.
The 35-year-old from Liguria hadn’t won in an ATP tournament since May 22, at Roland Garros.
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Not everything went smoothly after the match. While he was greeting the judge and heading towards his bench Bedene attacked Fognini verbally for a ball called in which was actually out: the Slovenian and the Ligurian entertained themselves for a while and went to see the sign of a ball played almost half an hour earlier.
After a few minutes of discussion, Fognini was evidently annoyed by the opponent’s behavior and stopped responding to Bedene, making the situation a bit weaker. The chair judge tried to get in between the two and stop them the whole time but her attempt was in vain the whole time.
The Slovenian tried to blow Fognini’s nerves by repeating “every time you play you combine something” but the Italian tennis player did not fall into the trap and after discussing he went to sit down avoiding other contacts.
With today’s career there are 400 victories for Fabio Fognini and 10 of these he obtained against Bedene, who is the most beaten by the Sanremo tennis player. He is the first Italian ever to reach this milestone in the ATP circuit and is the 14th active tennis player to reach 400.
