Fabio Fognini beat Kei Nishikori 6-4 6-2 in the quarter final of the Miami Open to get through to his second career Masters 1000 semifinal four years after reaching the last four in Monte-Carlo. Fognini beat Nishikori for the first time in three head-to-head matches and won his match against a top-5 player since beating Rafael Nadal in Barcelona in 2015. Nishikori was not in his best shape after his 2-hour and 44-minute battle against Fernando Verdasco on Sunday followed by a three-se comeback win against Federico Delbonis.
Fognini dropped his serve as he served for the first set at 5-3 and again when serving for the match at 5-1 in the second set. On both occasions the Italian broke back in the following game.
Nishikori earned an early break point at 30-40 in the first game but Fognini held his serve to take a 1-0 lead. In the fourth game Fognini went up 0-40 earning three break points and converted his first chance to take a 3-1 lead after reeling off nine consecutive points. The Italian player consolidated the break to open up a 4-1 lead with a smash from the baseline.
Fognini rallied from 0-30 to hold his service game with an ace to race out to a 5-2 lead but faced three break points at 0-40 in the next game, as he was serving for the set. He saved the first break point with an ace but hit his forehand into the net and dropped his serve to 15.
At 5-4 15-40 Fognini earned two set points on return with a forehand winner. Nishikori saved the first chance but Fognini converted his second set point to seal the first set.
Fognini earned a break point with a backhand passing shot in the second game and went up a set and a break with a forehand to take a 2-0 lead. He consolidated the break to hold his serve at deuce for 3-0. Fognini saved a first break point with a forehand before fending off a second chance when Nishikori hit a forehand into the net.
Fognini held his serve with a serve down the middle to open up a 4-1 lead before earning a double break to race out to 5-1, as Nishikori hit a backhand volley into the net. Nishikori got one break back in the seventh game, as Fognini made a double fault. Fognini converted his second match point with a backhand down the line.
Earlier this week the Italian star fought back from a set down to beat Jeremy Chardy before dropping just games in the following two matches against Donald Young and Kei Nishikori.
Fognini is the first unseeded player to reach the semifinals in Miami since Guillermo Canas reached the final in 2007 losing to Novak Djokovic. The player from Arma di Taggia is the first Italian player in history to reach the semifinal in Miami. Never before an Italian player had reached the semifinal in a Masters 1000 tournament on hard court. He will take on either Rafael Nadal or Jack Jock in the secmifinal. Nadal beat Fognini in seven of their 10 head-to-head matches but the Italian became the first player to recover from two sets down to beat Nadal in a Grand Slam match at the 2015 US Open.
