Fabio Fognini has continued his good period of form by reaching the third round at Roland Garros for the sixth time in his career after beating Andreas Seppi 6-4 7-5 6-3. In the third round the Italian player will play against Stan Wawrinka, who won four of their five head-to-head matches.
Both player strade breaks in the first two games of the opening set. Fognini earned another break in a long sixth game of the first set featuring 14 points to open up a 4-2 lead. He made four errors and dropped his serve, as he was serving for the first set at 5-3 but sealed the first set with a break in the 10th game.
Fognini broke serve to open up a 3-0 lead in the second set. Seppi broke back to draw level to 3-3. Seppi held his serve in the eighth game but dropped his serve at 5-6 to love, as he made a backhand error.
Fognini broke serve on the first of his break points in the second game to take a 2-0. He consolidated the break in the third game to open up a 3-0 lead. At 5-3 he did not convert his first match point but sealed the match on his second opportunity with his fifth ace after two hours and 20 minutes.
Fognini already met Wawrinka in the third round at 2010 Roland Garros but lost in three sets. In 2011 he reached the quarter final but was forced to retire before the match against Novak Djokovic. In his other appearances in the third round of this tournament he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in three sets in 2012, to Rafa Nadal in three sets in 2013 and to Gael Monfils in five sets in 2014. Wawrinka leads 5-1 in his head-to-head matches against Fognini, who clinched his only match against the Swiss star in Acapulco in 2013.
“It’s a very positive period in my life and I hope that it will continue for a long time. The match against Wawrinka will be very tough and it will be hard to beat him”, said Fognini.
