Stanislas Wawrinka limps through to the quarters after defeating Fabio Fognini: Abierto Mexicano Telcel
Stanislas Wawrinka progressed to the quarterfinals of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco today. His second round opponent, Fabio Fognini of Italy, pushed him to the limit in the three set encounter. Wawrinka, the current world no.15, was off-color against
his opponent who is ranked 56th in the world.
After an incredible run this year that saw him win his first tournament of the season along with a quarterfinal appearance at the Australian Open, the 25-year-old appears to be slowing down. His first round encounter in Acapulco against Pablo Andujar of
Spain also went down to three sets, although Wawrinka walloped Andujar in the third set 6-0.
Fognini is unseeded in this tournament; his first round match was against Maximo Gonzales, a qualifier from Argentina. The Italian was dominant in the encounter and used his greater skill to take the match in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.
Wawrinka started out on the back foot. The first set saw weak serving from both players. Wawrinka landed in more of his first serves—72 per cent compared to his opponent’s 61 per cent. Fognini was better when it came to converting serves into points though,
as he won 53 per cent of the points on his first serve compared to the Swiss man’s 50. This, coupled with better returns on the second serve, handed the Italian a resounding 8 breaking opportunities. Although Fohnini was broken twice himself, he broke back
on three occasions to take the set 7-5.
The second set saw Wawrinka stabilise himself; his serving didn’t improve massively, but he did much better on the return. Despite conceding only one point on his second serve, Wawrinka was broken on both the break points he provided to his Italian opponent.
In reply however, he broke an amazing four times to take the set 6-3.
The final set saw both players improve their serving considerably. Wawrinka won 93 per cent of the points on his first serve and conceded no break points. His opponent provided him with 5 opportunities to break, but managed to save all but one. That one
break was enough for Wawrinka to close the match and progressed to the quarterfinals.
Stanislas Wawrinka faces his first true test of the tournament in the next round though, as he takes on Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine. Dolgopolov is another in-form player and Wawrinka will need to produce his best tennis to overcome the challenge he poses.
Whatever the result, an exciting match awaits tennis fans in the next round here in Acapulco.
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