By Chris Oddo | Saturday August 4, 2018
Fabio Fognini claimed his eighth career title and first Top 5 victory in over 15 months by defeating Juan Martin del Potro for the Los Cabos title.
Photo Source: Abierto de Tenis Mifel
Juan Martin del Potro was one step from running the table in Mexico.
Instead it was Fabio Fognini that ran away with the title.
The Italian overcame an early 3-0 deficit and claimed 12 of the final 15 games to clear his eighth career title and a first on a hard court at the Abierto de Tenis Mifel in Los Cabos.
Fognini, slated to play doubles with Del Potro and next week’s Rogers Cup, was a solo artist on Saturday night. He earned his first ever win against Del Potro and his first over a Top 5 player since he took out Andy Murray at Rome last season.
Del Potro seemed to lack the energy for the fight on this night, and he rarely hit over his two-handed backhand, instead opting to take a hand off and play the slice.
It made things easy for Fognini who took the play to Del Potro and was unbothered over the course of the 79-minute affair.
Fognini is closing in on his career-best ranking of 13 in the world—he will rise from 15 to 14 as a result of this title.
“It's something strange because, of course, at the beginning of the week if you told me that we would be talking about titles... I am really happy, happy about this week, about my game. Of course it means a lot for me,” Fognini said, according to ATPWorldTour.com.
The 31-year-old Fognini converted all four break points he saw and won 21 of 27 first-serve points, saving two of the three break points he faced.
Fognini, who improves to 35-15 on the season, only has 55 ranking points to defend between now and the end of the U.S. Open.