By Tennis Now | Friday, April 6, 2018
Davis Cup hero Lucas Pouille won the opener before Fabio Fognini defeated Jeremy Chardy to level Italy with Davis Cup champion France.
Photo credit: Ray Giubilo/Davis Cup Facebook
Tennis is all about adjustments.
Fabio Fognini made all the right alterations rallying past Jeremy Chardy, 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-2, 6-3, to pull host Italy even with defending champion France in the Davis Cup quarterfinals on the red clay of the Valletta Cambiaso ASD in Genova.
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In a rivalry that dates back to the juniors, Fognini said he'd have to be "ready to run" against Chardy, who carried a 5-0 Davis Cup singles record onto court.
After a tight opening set, Fognini began taking the ball on the rise and making the Frenchman move. Fognini converted nine of 25 break points in a three hour, 31-minute victory.
"Well maybe for sure it was a really important point," Fognini told DavisCup.com. "When you are one-zero down you are only thinking about to win the match. It was really difficult, especially in the beginning, I was not feeling really well. But at the end, I was feeling better and better."
Fognini raised his 2018 clay-court record to 8-2, including winning his sixth career title in Sao Paulo last month.
French Davis Cup hero Lucas Pouille showed strong closing power again.
Pouille grinded through a 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1 triumph over Andreas Seppi.
The 11th-ranked Frenchman hit 10 aces and 13 double faults earning his first win since he topped Filip Krajinovic in the Dubai semifinals.
In Saturday's critical doubles match, Italy's Simone Bolelli and Paolo Lorenzi will face 2016 Wimbledon doubles champions Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Though it's possible Italian captain Corrado Barazzutti could substitute Fognini to play witBolelli.
The 20th-ranked Fognini is slated to play Pouille in Sunday's opening reverse singles. Fognini has won two of three meetings with Pouille, including their lone clay-court clash in the 2015 Hamburg semifinals.
Seppi will face the 80th-ranked Chardy in Sunday's final fifth match, if necessary.
France has only won on Italian soil once before, way back in in 1927 in Rome.
Italy is aiming to reach the World Group semifinals for just the second time in the last 20 years, while defending champion France plays for a spot in the last four for the third straight year.
The winner of this quarterfinal will play either Spain or Germany in the September semifinals.