Fabio Fognini has won the Hakbfinal crash in Bastad against Fernando Verdasco. In the final awaits the Frenchman Richard Gasquet from Italy.
It was a highly emotional semi-final that the spectators in Bastad between Fabio Fognini and Fernando Verdasco experienced.
Fognini, who is known for his emotional outbursts, played almost flawlessly in the first run, acted with strong stops and repeatedly threw Verdasco out of concept. After only 26 minutes, the Italian secured a 6-1 win in the first set.
However, hot blood verdasco did not get up and fought back with his usual strong sand court tennis and put Fognini under pressure. As a result, the Italian increasingly made mistakes and Verdasco equalled the score with 6:4 in the sets.
The decision-making process should not leave much to be desired in terms of voltage. The two players took the serve off each other early in the set and showed high class sand court tennis with a lot of finesse. Verdasco wobbled at 5:6 on his own serve and Fognini sensed his chance. After 2:18 hours of play, Fognini turned his second match point and raised his arms.
The match between Richard Gasquet and local hero Henri Laaksonen was less spectacular. Gasquet lived up to his role as favourite and played out his experience in the decisive moments.
The Frenchman made the final duel against Fognini perfect with a 6:2 and 6:3. Gasquet shows up in Bastad after some physical problems in the past weeks in improved form before the upcoming hard court season.