Napolitano wins the derby against Fognini
Stefano Napolitano’s great 2024 continues. The Piedmontese, who celebrated his best ranking at number 125 this week, after two hours and 33 minutes of the match beat Fabio Fognini 75 46 76(4). He thus reached the quarter-finals. He will challenge the 25-year-old Frenchman Ugo Blanchet, ATP number 192, for the first time.
Napolitano is more explosive in the first games, especially on the diagonal of his backhand. Fognini, who had his pressure controlled halfway through the first set, went down 2-4 and with his personality and offensive schemes eliminated two double break chances that could have sent the Piedmontese to serve for the set at 5-2.
It’s Fognini’s best moment as he recovers and scores the 5-5 break by pushing right against Napolitano’s backhand, imprecise in his acceleration down the line. But the Ligurian takes the break to zero (6-5) and Napolitano doesn’t allow any other opportunities.
The second set also proceeds, while the shadows descend to darken the court, on the edge of a balance that flutters like a flag in the wind. Napolitano goes up 3-1, Fognini recovers, accelerates and overtakes. He designs the field, lights it up with short balls and flashes of lightning-fast creativity. He wins the best point of the set with a geometric lob in the crucial seventh game in which he saved three break points. You play more on his terms and the result rewards him. The tight backhand return on the break point that is worth the set point leads the opponent to make an error. He goes to the third, for the eighth time in the last nine matches played by Fognini.
Fognini takes a risk, contests a serve at 2-1 15-15 in the third set, saves five break points but falls in the sixth. Napolitano goes to serve for the match, but does not close: it is decided in the tie-break. The Piedmontese goes 0-4 down but Fognini doesn’t take advantage of the advantage. He slips, and it’s not just a metaphor, he gets up but suffers the comeback. Napolitano takes the victory on the first match point and reaches the quarter-finals for the fourth time this season.
