Fabio Fognini is a very gifted tennis player. He’s a great mover, hits hard, and if required, he easily shift into a higher gear. Out of the blue he produces drop shots that really drop dead short behind the net. In the semi final it drove Gastao Elias almost to madness. Out of frustration the poor Portuguese was about eating his racket (see the pictures below). He did the best he could, but it wasn’t enough to stop Fognini (6-3, 6-3).
This was also the case in the final where Fognini was playing the Slovak Andrej Martin. In the beginning of the first set Martin could keep pace, but later it was Fognini who managed to break: 6-4. Although Martin was passionated supported by his box and fans, he went down 6-1 in the second set. Just like in the semi’s Fognini was just too good for his opponent. Although losing a game is never fun, it seemed that Martin could live with his lost. He recognized in his speech that Fognini is the better player. And it must be said: the Slovak had a wonderful tournament. He played very well and defeated Sergiy Stakhovski, Martin Klizan (this year the winner in both Rotterdam and Hamburg), the 2015 runner up in Umag Joao Sousa, and Carlos Berlocq. Pretty impressive, only Fognini was out his league.
The trophy was handed to Fognini by non other than Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, the president of the Republic of Croatia. Apparently this trophy is very heavy (see the picture of Fognini below), but also very much wanted by the Italian. The joy of his father and sister, his trainers and of course his wife Flavia Panetta was also enormous. In a very kind and funny (as you can see not he pictures) speech he thanked them all. Fognini is the legitimate winner of the Konzum Croatia Open in Umag.
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