Fognini goes crazy with Bublik: it’s a derby with Sonego in Metz

And then there is Fabio Fognini, a 36-year-old boy who, when he takes the racket in his hand, is capable of giving you three more beautiful, intense, exciting and never banal hours of tennis. The Ligurian may have dropped to number 147 in the world and will have many, too many physical problems, but what he did in the round of 16 in Metz, in the ATP 250, against another interpreter of the spectacular racket such as the Kazakh Alexander Bublik, n. 32 in the ranking and seeded number 5, is to be cherished in memories with a smile. A 4-6 7-6 (7) 7-6 (5) full of spectacle, with three match points canceled in a crazy second set. Bublik (last year’s finalist) also a true show man, took it for a laugh, but not before going into a rage, with a petrified look, after having wasted a ball for the match with a magic goal by Fabio. Yet everything seemed to go smoothly for the Kazakh, after a first set won with ease, but he hadn’t taken Fognini into account, and even a bit with himself: a beautiful player to look at, Bublik, but totally unpredictable, to say the least . “It’s for matches like these that I continue to play, for which I train and for which I suffer – said Fabio at the end of the match – I’ve lost a bit of ranking in the last few months, it’s been a long time since I missed the quarterfinals of the final at this level, I’m happy but also very tired”, says the Ligurian smiling. For Fognini it is the 83rd quarter-final of his career, the first since Belgrade 2022, the 18th match won in his career by the Ligurian saving match points. Not too bad, as his friend Djokovic would say.

and now Lorenzo

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In the quarterfinals there will be the derby with Lorenzo Sonego, who is the reigning champion in Metz after the title obtained in 2022. The Italian beat the Jordanian Abedallah Shelbayh, a good tennis player who is slowly emerging, with a score of 6-3 7 -5. The Piedmontese had reached the round of 16 after beating Giron in a comeback, and in France he is putting in useful fuel for the real, great objective of the season, namely the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga, where the place as second singles player of the team will be played with Musetti and Arnaldi. ‘Italy, in addition obviously to the Italian number one Jannik Sinner.

musetti out in sofia

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Here, speaking of Lorenzo Musetti, the Italian number two lost the match against the British Jack Draper in Sofia, in a match that theoretically could be seen as an advance on Davis, given that Italy and Great Britain could, on paper, meet in the semifinals. Musetti was seeded No. 1 in the Bulgarian ATP 250, but lost again immediately, in a negative streak that has lasted for some time now. Draper won the match 7-5 6-2, overcoming the Italian, who had gone ahead 4-2 in the first, only to collapse.