Fabio Fognini crashes out by Benoit Paire in the opening round – Serbia Open 2012
Last year’s runner up, Fabio Fognini was dumped by the French rising star, Benoit Paire, with a breadstick at the Serbia Open 2012 on Tuesday. He suffered a 1-6, 4-6 loss at the hands of the world number 96 at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)
World Tour 250 series event taking place in Belgrade, Serbia.
The Italian star barely did anything in the opening set and eventually endured a straight set defeat against Paire at the SRPC Milan Gale Muskatirovic. The contestants previously battled each other at the qualifying competition of French Open three years
ago and after this 61-minute battle, Paire avenged his defeat and secured a second round spot.
Seeded sixth in the tournament, Fognini sluggishly entered the Serbian clay courts but held his opening serve to level the scores at 1-1. However, the Italian stepped off steam after that and lost the proceeding five games in a row, consequently gifting
away the opener with a breadstick. He was unsuccessful in creating a break opportunity and failed to ward off both breakpoints he faced.
Ranked 48th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Fognini rebounded towards the second set and earned the coveted break in the second game to leap to a 3-0 lead. However, he swayed from his path again and lost the following five
games successively to tail at 3-5. Despite keeping his serve in the ninth game, the Italian failed to seek a break chance after that and eventually bear a 4-6 loss.
The French on the other hand fired 11 vicious aces and impressively clicked 28 out of 35 points on his first serve share to rule the match. He also capitalised on four out of six break opportunities and ended the deal with 62 points.
Paire will next confront the Spanish star, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who rallied past Russia’s Igor Kunitsyn in three sets to set-up this duel.
The seventh seed, Ryan Harrison, also shared a similar fortune. He was edged out by the Brazilian ace, Joao Souza, in straight sets in 76 minutes. The American was broken down three times and failed to find any break opportunities, eventually enduring a
3-6, 3-6 shock.
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