Kei Nishikori is off to a winning start in Rome, beating Fabio Fognini in a controlled performance in both sets, taking just under 80 minutes.
Professional performance 💪@keinishikori powers past Fognini 6-3 6-4 to set up a R2 meeting with Carreno Busta in Rome.#IBI21 pic.twitter.com/QwySayiPZT
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 10, 2021
Great win for Kei Nishikori to start in Rome, where he was a semifinalist a couple of times in the past. He won by 6-3, 6-4 over Fabio Fognini, gets Carreno Busta tomorrow. Kei only lost to Tsitsipas, Nadal, and Zverev in his last three tournaments. Finding his form.
Nishikori started very solid from the back of the court. The Asian had already been showing signs of improvement in recent weeks and was a slight favorite against a rival like Fognini.
“I think I played almost 100% good tennis today,” Nishikori stated in his post-match interview. “[Fognini] was, of course, a tough player [to face], especially at home here in Rome. But I played solid from the beginning until the end.” Nishikori continued.
“I’m feeling pretty good from last week, unfortunately, I lost to Sascha [Zverev], but he was playing well. I was also playing at a pretty good tennis level and even today I think I showed a good level of tennis and I’m looking forward to playing the next couple of rounds.” Nishikori said.
Fognini started the second set livelily and leaving good feelings with his blows in the first turn of service. Nishikori held on and found himself with an option to break in the third game. He did not miss the opportunity and you took the reins of the marker being very close to the victory. From that moment on both kept their service but Fognini needed a break to be able to think about the comeback. With the 5-3 for Kei came the option to rest to try to close the game. Fognini endured and the rest had the option to try to continue in the tournament in his country. Nishikori did not miss and confirmed his pass to the next round
