Fabio Fognini beats Michael Russell in the opening round battle – Apia International Sydney 2012
Rated at number 46 in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Rankings, Fabio Fognini of Italy exhibited his brilliant hard-court tennis skills yet another time to dispose of the American qualifier, Michael Russell,
in the first round of the Apia International Sydney on Tuesday. The exciting three-set battle took one hour and forty five minutes to conclude, with the final scores settling at 2-6, 6-2, 6-0, in the favour of Fognini.
The 24-year-old Italian registered his first victory of the 2012 ATP season to make a spot in the round of 16 of the World Tour 250-level tournament in Sydney, Australia. He was off to a sloppy start in the opener and the 33-year-old
American veteran, Russell, fully capitalized on hi mistakes to have an early impact on the contest. The world number 46 then regrouped in the following set once getting his winning impetus, he never looked back at his opponent and cruised through the games
with complete authority.
98th ranked Russell was off to a belligerent start and struck three breaks of serves in the opening set to take the better of his opponent. Fognini replied with a break point conversion but couldn’t avoid the American
veteran take the first set 6-2.
The unseeded Italian cracked in two serve breaks right away in the second set and took Russell by surprise. The American frittered away the two break chances he had in the set number two and Fognini secured 13 out of 17 first serve
points to take the second set 6-2, levelling the match at 1-1.
The final set was an all-Italian show, with Fognini dominating every second of it. The Italian broke his opponent in his every single serve game and clinched 26 out of 36 total points being played in the set. Russell utterly failed
to hold his serve throughout the final set and eventually bowed out to the superior ranked Italian at 0-6.
Fognini will take on the third seed Richard Gasquet of France in the second round to battle for a place in the quarter-final draw. Gasquet received a bye to the second round of the tournament.
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