Now live: Rafael Nadal against Fabio Fognini in Monte Carlo
Rafael Nadal is aiming for his twelfth title win at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Monte Carlo. Three men can still prevent this. One of them is Fabio Fognini. The match will be live on Sky and in our match tracker from 3:30 p.m.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Apr 20, 2019, 04:34 pm
Rafael Nadal's biggest opponent on sand may be his own body. There was, however, a short period of time in which Fabio Fognini was in fact an equal opponent of the Spaniard on his favorite document. In 2015 the Italian won in Rio de Janeiro and - attention: insult to majesty - also in Barcelona against Nadal, even in the final of Hamburg Fognini bravely defended himself. To bring the big bang a few weeks later: The success at the US Open, and that after Nadal's 2-0 set lead.
In the overall balance, however, Nadal leads with 11: 3 victories, so has won all games against Fabio Fognini since 2015. The last encounter was a year ago in Rome, where the local hero won the first set 6: 4, Nadal the other two with 6: 1 and 6: 2.
Fognini has so far convinced in Monte Carlo - especially against Alexander Zverev. But also in the quarterfinals against Borna Coric, where he had to make up a set gap. Especially in 2019 not a matter of course for Fognini: The 31-year-old from Sanremo was won with a 4: 8 match record after Monte Carlo.
Rafael Nadal in turn had problems with Guido Pella in the first set. In the end, of course, prevailed. And is the clear favorite in the second semifinals (not before 3:30 p.m., live on Sky).