Portuguese Open: Fognini moves into second round

Fabio Fognini advanced to the second round of the Portuguese Open by winning against qualifier Alessandro Giannessi 6-2, 6-1 at Clube de Ténis do Estoril on Monday evening.

“I need matches and wins” said Fognini in the mixed zone, as reported by Jorge Morgado. “My ranking went shit. I’m in the worst moment of my career. At 36 years old, I feel that I still have the level to improve my ranking. In a good day, I can beat everybody.”

Fognini, ranked No 97, will play Italian Marco Cecchinato next.

Estoril ATP250, other first-round results (Clube de Ténis do Estoril, clay, EUR 562.815, most recent results first):

• Nuno Borges vs. Quentin Halys
• Jurij Rodionov vs. Albert Ramos-Vinolas
• Giulio Zeppieri vs. João Sousa
• Luca Van Assche vs. Pedro Sousa
• Dominic Thiem vs. Sebastian Ofner
• Bernabe Zapata Miralles vs. Henrique Rocha
• Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Luca Nardi
• Constant Lestienne vs. Ben Shelton
• Marco Cecchinato beat Diego Schwartzman (7): 6-3, 7-6 (8)
• Sebastian Baez (5) beat Radu Albot: 7-5, 7-6 (3)
• Pedro Cachin beat Chun-Hsin Tseng: 6-4, 6-4