Fabio Fognini did not have the best draw getting
Dominic Thiem in round one but the Italian was able to emerge victorious in 6-4 7-6(5).
Fognini is a very mercurial player whose level of tennis is entirely dependent on how hard he tries and how he feels. Back home in Rome in Foro Italico Fognini was presumed to be quite excited and he was. He played one of his better matches in recent memory to take down Thiem who is slowly showing improvement. The Austrian si still far away from his best but he is playing better and better with each week.
For better parts of this match Thiem was pretty good overall serving well and winning points on his serve relatively easily. His problem in the entire match was the inability to exert too much pressure on Fognini when the Italian served. Thiem ran into a few difficult games in both sets and they proved costly as Fognini was able to break him once in each set once.
The Italian served for the match at 5-4 but allowed Thiem a couple of break points and the Austrian was finally able to use his 6th to prolong the match. We went into the tiebreak and Fognini covered the court well with Thiem resorting to attacking play. He wasn't as sharp as he needed to be as he failed to deliver the final blow often. Unforced errors here and there proved too costly as well but overall a very positive outing for Thiem who continues to build form for the French Open.