Fabio Fognini stuns Albert Montanes to reach the quarter-finals – French Open 2011
Surprises at the Roland Garros continue to strike the tennis fans, as the 49thranked Fabio Fognini of Italy took down the in-form world number 38, Albert Montanes of Spain, in the fourth round match up on Sunday. The
four hour and twenty two minutes thriller was finally settled by the Italian competitor at 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 11-9, to book a quarter-final berth at the second Grand Slam tournament of the year.
The enthralling contest featured one of the most dramatic turnarounds of the tournament, with Fognini snatching victory from the mouth of defeat. Montanes was leading the contest with two sets to one and was heading to a comprehensive
straight sets victory when a huge momentum swing took place, with Fognini coming on top of the game. After bagging the fourth set, a nail biting fifth sets was played between the competitors, with Montanes squandering a number of match points before finally
losing the contest to the Italian.
Fognini and Montanes had met twice earlier this year, with the Spaniard winning the two encounters convincingly. The last time these two men met, was on the clay courts of Casablanca, where Montanes defeated the Italian in straight
sets 7-6(1), 6-1. Fognini finally avenged his defeats in the fourth round of the mega event to register his ninth victory of the running ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) season and improved his all-time head-to-head record against the Spaniard to
2-3.
Despite of spilling out 103 unforced errors, Fognini still managed to take down his opponent in the last set of the contest. He compensated for the high number of errors by firing 68 cracking winners in the contest and seven aces
to come out as the winner.
The Spaniard was well in control of the game before he slumped in the fourth set to let Fognini back in the game. Once levelling the contest with two sets each, the Italian cramped up his opponent with his aggressive ground strokes
and attacking strategy. Montanes reached his first match point when he was serving for the match at 5-3 but the determined Italian denied him by breaking his serve to remain alive in the contest. Thanks to some errant stroke play from the Spaniard, Fognini
survived two more match points before he finally concluded a memorable victory over Montanes to reach the quarter-final of the French Open.
Fognini will take one the belligerent world number two, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, in the quarter-final draw of the tournament. Djokovic eased his way to the final eight after defeating the 13th seed local boy, Richard
Gasquet, in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, in the fourth round of Roland Garros.
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