By Chris Oddo | Sunday March 4, 2018
Italy’s Fabio Fognini overcame a powerful start from maiden ATP finalist Nicolas Jarry to emerge victorious as the 2018 Brasil Open champion. Fognini’s 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory marks the 30-year-old’s sixth title overall—all of them have come on clay.
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It was very much in doubt at the onset as Jarry reeled off the first 13 points and cruised through an opening set that saw him drop just 12 points.
"I think he started very well, getting very strong, with the new balls," Fognini said according to ATPWorldTour.com. "He had nothing to lose. Even though I lost the first set easily, I kept fighting and this was important, because it was a final.”
The Chilean failed on a break opportunity in the first game of the second set and Fognini capitalized to turn the tide of the match. The Italian wasn’t out of the woods yet—he needed to save another four break points to hold for 3-0 before closing the set without any further complications.
Fognini broke at love to open the decider but Jarry answered back when he broke for 2-all with a huge inside-out forehand winner.
But the forehand let the Chilean down three games later when he sailed one well long of the baseline that allowed Fognini a break for 4-3. The match went with serve from there with Fognini closing affairs at the one hour and 33 minute mark when he converted his first championship point with a service winner.
Fognini broke serve four times on eight opportunities and won 14 of 20 second-serve return points across sets two and three.
The Italian improves to 6-9 lifetime in finals with his victory, winning his first title since last summer at Gstaad. Fognini ranks second only to Dominic Thiem (16-3) on the ATP Tour with 14 wins against four losses in 2018.
Fognini is the first Italian to win the Sao Paulo title.
Jarry was bidding to become the first Chilean to win an ATP title in over eight years (Fernando Gonzalez, Vina del Mar, 2009). He has had a fantastic five weeks that have seen him more than double his career win total as well as reach his first three ATP quarterfinal, two ATP semifinals and his first final. Jarry will rise to a career-high ranking of No.61 in the world when new rankings are released on Monday.