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Ferrer is 10-0 against Fognini

The Italian was always the Spaniard's favorite player, who made a big turnaround here. He came back after almost five hours against Gabashvili, while Ferrer passed Dolgopolov thanks to retiring after only 11 games played

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The experienced Spaniard is playing one of his weakest seasons ever, and there's not much to remind us of that player who used to be a consistent Top 5 player. His downward spiral almost got him eliminated from Top 10, and he doesn't show signs of stopping it any time soon. 

Nothing changed on the hard courts since he got here after two big blunders (Donskoy, Benneteau). Dolgopolov has beaten him in Acapulco this year already, so he had a reason to feel optimistic, but he had some other struggles to deal with. He came here after he retired from Cincinnati because of his back, and then the same happened here. After 11 games played, he was forced to retire. That means that the Spaniard had a lot of luck in getting his 10th hard-court win this season, and he was beaten seven times in these conditions, even though he was the favorite six of those times.

It seems as if Fognini's approach this year is hot-n-cold. After the title in Umag, he didn't do well on the American hard-courts. He did give Murray a hard time in Rio, but then he lost to Isner in Cincinnati by seven points. 

He wasn't that great in the first round here, but after the long battle, he managed to beat the always unpredictable Gabashvili. He had a big turnaround after being a set and a break behind, and it took him almost five hours to win. In the end, it was all very dramatic, and included fighting with the umpires, Fognini's lack of interest at the beginning of the match, and then some health issues Gabashvili was dealing with by the end of it. The Russian helped Fognini win by making 19 double errors.

That means this is going to be Fognini's 11th duel against his black cat, or David Ferrer. The Spaniard won all ten of their previous duels, and only one of those was from the open hard court. That fact is crucial here because the Italian's score against Top 20 players in these conditions is 6-36. The long match in the first round is definitely not an advantage here, but then again, with Ferrer's form as it is, this might be Fognini's best chance so far.