Fabio Fognini dismantles Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the semi-finals – St. Petersburg Open 2012
World number 53, Fabio Fognini of Italy, advanced to just second title match of his career by beating the 93rd ranked player from Spain, Daniel Gimeno-Traver in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in the semi-finals of the St. Petersburg
Open in Russia.
The Italian player faced limited resistance from his Spanish opponent but put it away to topple his opponent in an hour and 19 minutes.
Fognini could not make a good start, as he lost his opening serve to go down 0-1 but he bounced back in style, clinching four games in a row to race to a 4-1 lead. The Italian maintained his lead till the end and captured it 6-3.
The 5ft 10in tall fired two aces and did not hit any double fault, putting in 71 percent of the first serves and claiming 16 of the 20 points on them. He fared pretty poorly on the second ones, as he lost five of the eight points
on them. The fourth seed balanced that by winning 12 of the 18 on the second returns. The 25-year-old saved one of the two break points he faced and converted two of the five he received in the opener.
Unlike the first set, Fognini and Gimeno-Traver made a stable start in the second, as they held their serve in the opening six games to square off the score at 3-3. The Italian participant managed to grab a breakthrough in the
seventh and made the most of it to triumph 6-4.
Fognini smacked a single ace and 71 percent of the first serves, converting 17 of the 24 of them into points. The Arma di Taggia, Italy resident improved the performance on his second deliveries this time, as he won six of the
10 points on them. Though, he could not respond well to the first serves of his rival, losing 15 of the 19. Nevertheless, he did well at crucial moments, as he put away the only break threat he came across and availed the one he created.
The Italian player will take on the third seed, Martin Klizan of Slovakia, in the final.
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