Munar Moves Past Fognini In Marbella
Jaume Munar claimed his first Top 20 victory of the year in style, dropping just three games against second seed Fabio Fognini on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals at the AnyTech365 Andalucia Open.
Munar looked right at home for an hour and 24 minutes on Estadio Manolo Santana, where he reached the final here in Marbella at the ATP Challenger Tour event last week. The Spaniard broke Fognini’s serve on six occasions from 16 break opportunities on his way to a 6-2, 6-1 victory.
The No.95 player in the FedEx ATP Rankings arrived in Spain after a strong run in South America. He reached the quarter-finals at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires from qualifying, and backed it up with a final in doubles at the Chile Dove Men+Care Open in Santiago (w/ Delbonis).
By contrast, his opponent Fognini was contesting his first clay court match of the year in Marbella ahead of his Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters title defense. It took a few games for Fognini to find his range in the opening set, but by then he was already down a double break and trailing 5-1. The Italian was unable to recover, and won only one more game as Munar stormed through the second set.
[WATCH LIVE 1]Munar will take on Ilya Ivashka in the quarter-finals, after the Belarusian scored an upset of his own over fifth seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 6-1, 6-3. Ivashka, No. 115 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, fired six aces and saved all nine break points he faced to take down the Spaniard and reach his first ATP Tour quarter-final of the year.
Also in action, third seed Casper Ruud booked his own quarter-final spot after a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Gianluca Mager. He awaits the winner of sixth seed Feliciano Lopez and #NextGenATP Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz.