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Fabio Fognini celebrated a milestone win on Tuesday at the Hamburg Open. The 35-year-old beat Aljaz Bedene in a third-set tiebreak in his Hamburg opener to become the first Italian man to register 400 singles wins in the Open Era.
In the process, Fognini became the 14th active player to achieve the milestone, trailing the likes of Roger Federer (1251), Rafael Nadal (1063) and Novak Djokovic (1012). Other active players on the list include Andy Murray (710) and Richard Gasquet (576), Fernando Verdasco (558), Stan Wawrinka (536) and Feliciano Lopez (503) among others.
In an ill-tempered match, Fognini rode a lone break to take the opening set. Bedene fought back to force a third set, where he squandered five break points in the first game before Fognini prevailed 7-5 in the tiebreak.
The 35-year-old will now take on Karen Khachanov on Wednesday for a place in the quarterfinals as he seeks his first Hamburg title since his 2013 triumph.
Fabio Fognini's 2022 campaign so far
Fabio Fognini has had a modest 2022 campaign thus far, winning 14 of his 27 matches.
The Italian commenced his season in Sydney, where he lost to Brandon Nakashima in the round of 16. Fognini endured a first-round exit at the Australian Open, losing to Tallon Griekspoor in straight sets.
After making the quarterfinals in Buenos Aires (lost to Federico Delbonis), the 2019 Monte-Carlo winner went one better in Rio de Janeiro. However, he was beaten by eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets. At his next stop at Indian Wells, Fognini gave a walkover to Nikoloz Basilashvili in the Round of 64. The Italian then lost to Nick Kyrgios in the round of 32 in Miami.
Fabio Fognini lost to eventual champion Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round at Monte-Carlo before reaching the Belgrade semifinals and losing to Andrey Rublev. After early exits in Madrid, Rome and Geneva, Fognini lost in the second round at Roland Garros to Botic van de Zandschlup, retiring from 3-2 down in the third set.
The Italian then endured opening-round exits at Wimbledon and Bastad before beating Bedene to reach the second round in Hamburg.
Against his next opponent, Khachanov, the Italian has won only one of his three matches - all on hardcourt. This will be the pair's first meeting on clay.
