ATP: Chengdu: Top seed Fognini after entering final before historic victory

Fabio Fognini has reached the final of the 250cc hard court tournament in Chengdu, China. With another win on Sunday against Bernard Tomic (Australia) and his fourth title win in 2018, the Italian could make history.

After almost 1:50 hours, Fognini turned his third match point against the US American Taylor Fritz into 6:7 (5:7), 6:0, 6:3. The world ranked 13-13 used six of his eleven break points and reached his fourth final of the season.

There Fognini will meet the unseeded qualifier Tomic, who defeated the Portuguese Joao Sousa (No. 7) 6:4, 6:4 and is in a final on the ATP Tour for the first time since February 2016. Back then, in the Mexican seaside resort of Acapulco, the whimsical Tomic lost to Dominic Thiem (Austria).

Fognini could make history on Sunday at the $1.183 million event in Sichuan Province in southwestern China. No Italian had yet won four ATP titles in a single year. Since the end of February, the 31-year-old, who is married to former US Open winner Flavia Pennetta and has been the father of little Federico since May 2017, has triumphed at the tournaments in Bastad, Sao Paulo and Los Cabos/Mexico.

Never before in his career has “Fogna” won more than two tournaments in one season. The former bon vivant, by the way Hamburg- and Stuttgart-Champion of 2013, seems to like his family life very much.

Against Fritz Fognini celebrated his 40th success of the season (18 defeats). “I’m happy because it was a great match. I really returned strongly and moved well,” said the right-hander from Sanremo, who had his sights set on the top ten – Fognini had never counted among this illustrious circle in his career before.

Tomic (25), born in Stuttgart and already number 17 in the world in 2016, could be among the top 80 again with a success on Sunday. He is currently only listed at ATP rank 123. By participating in the final, he is already back in the top 100 and can hope to play in the main field at the Australian Open 2019.