Bernard Tomic surprised by Fabio Fognini in the second round – AEGON International 2012
Australia’s rising sensation, Bernard Tomic, faced a severe blow to his Wimbledon Championship preparations, as he was beaten by the world number 64, Fabio Fognini of Italy, in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 5-7 in the second round at the
AEGON International in Eastbourne, England on Wednesday. It took the Italian an hour and 54 minutes to topple the fourth seed in a close encounter.
In the first set, none of the two players allowed each other to claim a breakthrough in the first four games, taking the score to 2-2. Tomic struck in the fifth and won his following serve to attain a 4-2 lead. However, Fognini
grabbed two in a row later on to square off the proceedings at 4-4. The Australian hit another blow to Fognini in the ninth and made the most of it this time to triumph 6-4.
Tomic and Fognini held their serve in the opening five games and took the score to 3-2 in favour of the latter. The Italian snatched a break in the sixth and consolidated on it to go up 5-2. Fognini did not provide any opportunity
to the Australian to get back into the set, serving it out at 5-3.
Carrying on the winning momentum in the decider, Fognini grabbed first three games to race to a 3-0 advantage. Tomic was down 2-5 at one stage but bounced back afterwards to level the score at 5-5. However, the Australian squandered
the opportunity by losing two consecutively and going down 5-7.
Tomic, who became the youngest player to reach quarter-finals at the Wimbledon Championships since Boris Becker in 1985 last year, was expected to give a good performance at this warm event for the third Grand Slam of the season.
Talking to the reporters after the contest, Tomic said, "I was bad for three or four days prior to Halle. I was resting in Monaco where I somehow got it, so I'm lucky it went away the last few days and I'm actually feeling right
to go.”
The Australian added, "I'm back to normal, which is good, but I wouldn't say that physically I'm 100 per cent. That's why I need these few days to get ready for Monday, Tuesday. But I think I'm back to 80 per cent, which is good.
I've got these next three days which are very, very important for next week."
Fognini will lock horns with the former world number one, Andy Roddick, in the quarter-finals.
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