It's safe to say that Rafael Nadal is having a pretty difficult time against Fabio Fognini this year. The eight-time champion in Barcelona was defeated today by the enigmatic Italian, 6-4, 7-6(6). This puts Nadal 0-2 on the year against the Fognini losing to him on the red clay in Rio de Janeiro in three sets earlier this year.
Nadal who was seeded second, was looking for a ninth Barcelona title this week after falling to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of Monte Carlo last week. He was looking to follow up on what he said was his "most positive week" last year with a good showing in Barcelona. Fognini, seeded thirteenth, was hoping to have a better showing this week after falling to Grigor Dimitrov last week.
The first set was poor serving performance from Fognini, but he was able to take it 6-4. Fognini served a woeful 45% on his first serves and most would see that number thinking that Nadal took the set handily. However, Fognini hit 16 winners to Nadal's 7 in this first set giving him a significant advantage. On those 45% of first serves, Fognini won 80% of those points compared to Nadal winning 64% of his first serve points.
This was mostly down to Fognini's court position and speed this set as he was able to retrieve all of Nadal's balls even the ones that were hit outwide with pace. His court positioning was key as he was hugging the baseline for most of the set and at most, was only two to three feet behind the baseline. Nadal was happy to retrieve the balls from well far back in the court, and this is something Nadal is accustomed to doing in these situations. He knows he is a great defender and retriever who can outwill his opponents, but he is going to need to get out of these poor habits if he's going to want to win a Masters, let alone the French Open.
Nadal got off to a quick start in the second set with an immediate break. The Spaniard thought he got the break on a Fognini double fault, but an overrule gave him a first serve allowing him to save the first of many opportunities. The Italian did his best to save those opportunities, but thanks to a few unforced errors from him, Nadal got the start he needed. He looked a little more offensive than he did in the first, but he still wasn't up to par with what he considers to be his best.
Three straight breaks started the set, and Nadal looked to be in control up 4-3. Fognini did his best to continue to fight and got a break to force it to four-all. Breaks of serve continued to be the trend in the second as Rafa broke for 5-4 but gave it right back for 5-5. All these opportunities in which he gave the break right back shows how prevelent it is that Nadal struggles mentally on the big points.
The second set went into a tiebreaker, and Fognini got off to a flier of a start jumping out to a 4-1 lead. At 6-3, he had three match points, but Nadal saved all of them in hopes of extending the match to a final set. A mistimed forehand by Nadal gave Fognini a fourth match point, and this time, the Italian would convert to complete the upset.
The stats of this match showed that Fognini was much better on the day other than first serve percentage. He hit double the winners Nadal had with 34, won 70% of his first serve points, and converted on 4/8 break opportunities. Nadal won a mediocre 58% of his first serve points and converted 3/14 break opportunities and was 0/7 until he broke Fognini in the opening game of the second.
Fognini is set to face Pablo Andujar who upset fifth-seeded Feliciano Lopez in the quarterfinals. Nadal on the other hand will wait until May to play again in Madrid and Rome, where he has 1600 points to defend in these two Masters events.