Eight-time champion Rafael Nadal’s Barcelona campaign came to a dramatic hault on centre court after a surprising 4-6 6-7 loss to Fabio Fognini of Italy, leaving The King of Clay’s confidence issues mounting ahead of the Madrid Masters tournament in two weeks.
Nadal clearly wasn’t himself when he stepped out onto a packed centre court Thursday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell to take on his tricky opponent, who is no stranger to clay-court success himself.
Fognini started the match well with both looking comfortable on serve; however, it was the Italian who continually pressed for a break in the opening set. Fognini’s chance came and went as he overcooked a forehand on his first set point opportunity on Nadal’s serve at 4-5. He clinched his second break-point chance with a forehand volley winner which silenced the stunned crowd to wrap up the first set 6-4.
The second set was a more of a nail biter, with three breaks of serve in the first four games of the second set, which saw Nadal take a 3-1 lead and it looked like Nadal was back on track in the second. Fognini, however, maintained his composure throughout the second set to fight back and win five of the next seven games.
With the deciding set eventually going to a tiebreak it looked as though Nadal would prevail. However, some uncharacteristic errors from the Spaniard gave Fognini a 6-3 lead in the tiebreak. The crowd started getting vocal when their home charge Nadal managed to pull it back to 6-all.
The moment of excitement was short lived when Nadal hit a forehand out at match point down losing the match 4-6 6-7(6) to Fognini, who had been winless in Bareclona in his five previous appearances. It was Nadal’s second consecutive early Barcelona defeat, following a quarterfinal loss to Nicolas Almagro last year.
Fognini has managed to record his second win over Rafa and is now only four matches away from notching his 200th win of his career. Fognini will have to re-group ahead of his next match where he will play another Spaniard, Pablo Andujar, who will be looking to avenge his countryman’s defeat in front of the home crowd.
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