‘Tis the season for Fabio Fognini. The Italian called the South American clay-court swing his “favourite place to be” after extending his stay in Rio de Janeiro with a battling three-hour victory over fourth seed Pablo Carreno Busta.

Wednesday’s 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 result improves Fognini’s record to 13-6 at the Rio Open presented by Claro, including final (2015) and semi-final (2018) appearances.

“For sure I’m happy because of the feeling that I worked,” the World No. 38 said post-match. “I’m really happy of course about my victory and my performance, especially because I was fighting until the end.

“In Rio I have really good memories. This South American swing has always been my favourite place to be, so I’m really happy to be back in the quarter-finals here in Rio.”

Fognini won the first seven points of the match as he took an early 2-0 lead and cut a relaxed figure as he pushed it to 5-3 with free hitting off both baseline wings. But things got tense as he failed to serve out the set at 5-4, squandering two set points on a pair of forehand miscues.

In a six-deuce 12th game, Carreno Busta broke to finish a 63-minute set.

The Spaniard looked on course for victory as he created three break points across two games midway through the second, but Fognini hung in and eventually made his own breakthrough on his fourth break point of the set.

The decider opened with a trade of breaks, and after Carreno Busta edged in front at 3-2, the Italian raised his level to win the last four games and advance. Fognini will face unseeded Argentine Federico Coria in Friday’s quarter-finals.

Coria backed up his dominant dismissal of fifth seed Cristian Garin with his own hard-fought victory over Fernando Verdasco, 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-4

There were a total of 30 break points in the three-hour match, with each man converting on four. Coria secured an early break in each set, but Verdasco instantly broke back on all three occasions. When the Argentine broke again in the ninth game of the deciding set, he was able to buck the trend — but only just. 

From 0/40 down, he won five straight points to serve out the match.

Pablo Andujar also went the distance for a Wednesday win, taking out eighth seed and recent Cordoba champion Albert Ramos-Vinolas, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3. He’ll next face third seed Diego Schwartzman, who was a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Spain’s Pedro Martinez in the Rio nightcap.

The Argentine got back to winning ways after his run to the Buenos Aires final, but had to work through an epic second game of the match to take the initiative against Martinez. In a 25-minute, 30-point game, Schwartzman finally converted on his ninth break point. He raised his arms in a celebration fit for a match victory, then went straight back to grinding it out as he saved a break point in a three-deuce service game.

“The beginning was unbelievable,” he said following the victory. “Twenty-five minutes, I don’t know if I’ve seen something like this before. After that I think I played almost a perfect match.”

After the opening set clocked in at just under an hour, Schwartzman took the second by the same 6-1 scoreline in just 35 minutes. He again secured an early lead, this time 4-0, and used an assured finish to move on to the quarter-finals.

Source Tennis – ATP World Tour