Masters Rome, Italy shock! An excellent Fognini knocks out Thiem in two sets

The best Fabio Fognini of 2022 enchants the Centrale del Foro Italico against a revived Dominic Thiem: 6-4 7-6 in an hour and 55 minutes. He is the first Italian to qualify for the second round of the Internazionali after the eliminations of Sonego, Zeppieri, Cobolli, Passaro, Arnaldi, Trevisan and Cocciaretto and the pre-tournament forfeits of Berrettini and Musetti. The Ligurian tennis player, 35 years old on May 24th, will challenge the winner of Sinner-Martinez, scheduled for Tuesday evening.

The match report

Finally one good news, or rather two: Italy finally makes itself felt in the Masters 1000 at home and finds again the class of Fognini, always concentrated in the fifth career match (1-3 the previous ones) with Dominic Thiem. The conditions of the Austrian, who has returned to the circuit a few weeks after the long stop due to a wrist injury, are not yet optimal, but there are many positive signals sent by Fogna, from a physical and technical point of view. The match starts in balance: the host cancels two break points and, when the first set enters the hot phases, places a surgical break, closing 6-4. The blue is charged with the support of the Foro Italico and gives away moments of heavenly tennis like when he pulls this veronica out of the hat …