Second seeded Rafael Nadal has an interesting battle on his hands when he takes on Italy’s Fabio Fognini in the fourth round of the 2021 Australian Open on Monday, February 15, with the match likely to begin at around 11 am local time (12 noon BST or 7 pm Eastern Time previous day). Get the live streaming options of this Rafael Nadal v Fabio Fognini match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Rafael Nadal v Fabio Fognini Head to Head
This is a long-standing rivalry, which started in 2013 and has seen a whopping 16 matches played between these two players. And while Nadal obviously has a huge edge in this, Fognini has won four of those 16 encounters, including one as recently as the 2019 Monte-Carlo Masters on clay.
Fognini’s only win over Nadal on a hard court came at the 2015 US Open, where he bundled the Spaniard out in the third round.
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Nadal Stretched for a While But Comes Through v Norrie
Three matches played, three matches won and in straight sets. This, for a player who missed the entire ATP Cup because of a bad back and was in a doubt over his participation in this tournament, before tweaking his serve to ensure he could take to court.
And while this third round win over Britain’s Cameron Norrie wasn’t the most straightforward of victories, Nadal still looked like he was in control for most part. In fact, other than the fifth game in the first set, where the Spaniard lost serve to fall behind 2-3, there wasn’t too much trouble.
Nadal broke back immediately to level things out at 3-3, and then broke again at 6-5 to clinch the first set. The second was a lot easier when Nadal broke Norrie twice – in the sixth and the eighth game – before the Brit tightened up his game in the third set.
However, Norrie’s issue was he never got close to breaking the Nadal serve, and while the world number two missed a couple of chances early to do the same, he converted the third one he got in the 12th game.
His previous wins had come against Laslo Djere and Michael Mmoh.
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Fognini Aided by No Fans
Without any fans in Melbourne Park, there was no support for the local lad Alex de Minaur in their third round match and Fognini took full advantage despite having gone into the encounter as a heavy second-favourite. Starting out at 9/2 to win it, Fognini registered a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory over the Aussie to set up the Nadal meeting.
Fognini’s turnaround has been one to talk about. He entered the season with a woeful 6-10 win-loss record last year, then lost in the second round in the Antalya Open and was crushed in the first ATP Cup singles match he played as well.
Victories over Benoit Paire and Pablo Carreno Busta would have obviously helped regain some of his confidence but then came another loss – this time to the much favoured Andrey Rublev.
Which is why, coming into the Australian Open, not too many would have given him a lot of chance to make it to the second week. A win over Pierre Hugues-Herbert in the first round was followed by a feisty second round thriller against Salvatore Caruso.
It went to a fifth set tie-breaker which Fognini won 14-12 but not before there was a truckload of on-court drama between the two players.
This Nadal match would obviously be a different kettle of fish for Fognini, but one he would be more confident about since he was about 10 days ago and knowing he has beaten the 20-time Grand Slam winner before.
Nadal v Fognini Prediction and Tip
If both players were to play to their potential, Nadal will start off as a favourite to clinch this in straight sets (4/5). However, Fognini’s recent form and fighting capabilities to go with Nadal’s back make this a slightly less straightforward match.
Tip: Fognini to win a set: 10/11 (bet365)
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The 2021 Australian Open will be played from February 8 to 21. You can watch & bet on the these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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