Guido Pella from Bahia (number 93 in the ATP ranking) beat Italian Fabio Fognini (36) 6-1 and 7-5 this Wednesday and went on to the third round of the Cincinnati tennis Masters 1000, which distributes prizes for 3,707,550 dollars and is part of the cement tour prior to the US Open.
Pella did a very good job and scored a brilliant victory against the talented and always demanding Fognini, after 1 hour and 30 minutes of play that should have developed on Tuesday, but was rescheduled due to the rain.
In this way, Pella, who after a poor start to the year in which he also tested positive for coronavirus and missed a large part of the season, is finding his best level and is optimistic about the future.
With the victory, Pella matched the record against Fognini, who favored the Italian 3-2 after winning the 2017 Davis Cup series held in Sarmiento Park, in the 2020 Australian Open and this year in Geneva , while the “lefty” from Bahia had beaten the European in San Pablo 2013 and Munich 2017.
The 31-year-old Argentine, who had appeared in Cincinnati with a victory over the Belgian David Goffin (19), will face the winner of the later cross between the South African Lloyd Harris (46) or the German Alexander Zverev (5), third favorite to the title of the contest.
The other Argentine who continues in the tournament, Diego Schwartzman (14), who beat the British Evans (28) in the opening round on Monday and appeared tonight against the American Frances Tiafoe (51), who last night beat the French Ugo Humbert (29) by 7-5 and 7-6 (11-9).
The Cincinnati Masters 1000 does not have in its current edition the maximum attraction of the circuit, the presence of the “Big Three” (the Serbian Novak Djokovic, the Spanish Rafael Nadal and the Swiss Roger Federer) and neither is the Austrian Dominic Thiem, with a wrist injury.
In the case of Federer, over the weekend he announced that he will undergo surgery on his right knee and will miss the remainder of the season, his return at 40 years old and with a worn out physique being a mystery.
The top favorite for the title is Russian Daniil Medvedev (2), champion of the 2019 edition of the competition and also winner of the Montreal Masters 1000 last Sunday. The Russian will enter to play directly in the second round and will play against the local Mackenzie McDonald (64), who eliminated his compatriot Brandon Nakashima (87).
The second seed is the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (4) and the third the mentioned German “Sascha” Zverev (5), who reappears on the circuit after having won the gold medal at the recent Tokyo Olympics.
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