Dominic Thiem (L) and Fabio Fognini.
Match details
Fixture: (PR) Dominic Thiem vs Fabio Fognini.
Tournament: Italian Open 2022.
Round: First round (Round of 64).
Venue: Rome, Italy.
Category: ATP Masters 1000.
Surface: Clay.
Prize money: €6,008,725.
Live telecast: USA – Tennis Channel | UK – Amazon Prime Video | India – Voot & Sports 18.
Dominic Thiem vs Fabio Fognini preview
Dominic Thiem at the 2022 Mutua Madrid Open.
2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem will take on Fabio Fognini in the first round of the 2022 Italian Open.
Thiem returned to competitive tennis this year after being sidelined since June 2021. His first tournament was the Marbella Challenger, where he lost in the opening round to Pedro Cachin in straight sets. He did a little better at the Serbia Open, where he won a set against John Millman before losing in the first round yet again.
Thiem’s fortunes didn’t improve after that either as he lost in two tight sets against Benjamin Bonzi in the first round of the Estoril Open. The Austrian also fell at the opening hurdle at the Madrid Open, falling against former World No. 1 Andy Murray in straight sets.
Thiem looks set to drop outside the top 150 of the rankings following his latest loss.
Fognini at the 2022 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.
Fabio Fognini’s performances over the last few weeks have been quite inconsistent. He lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round of the Monte-Carlo Masters but bounced back by reaching the semifinals of the Serbia Open. However, he was beaten by eventual winner Andrey Rublev in straight sets.
Fognini then lost in the first round of the Madrid Open to Nikoloz Basilashivili.
He’ll be aiming for a better showing in his home tournament, but he has underperfomed at the Italian Open so far. Fognini hasn’t made it past the first round since 2019.
Dominic Thiem vs Fabio Fognini head-to-head
Thiem leads Fognini 3-1 in the head-to-head. He won their most recent encounter at the 2019 Madrid Open in straight sets. Fognini’s only win over the Austrian came at the 2018 Italian Open.
Dominic Thiem vs Fabio Fognini odds
All odds are sourced from BetMGM.
Dominic Thiem vs Fabio Fognini prediction
Dominic Thiem at the 2021 French Open.
Thiem still hasn’t won a match since his comeback, so Fognini will certainly fancy his chances of getting a win. The former World No. 3 has only won one set across his four matches so far this year.
Thiem has shown flashes of his former form, but those moments have been few and far between. He has found it difficult to sustain his level throughout the match and his forehand, which used to be a huge weapon, is no longer that effective. This could be a result of his wrist injury and perhaps he doesn’t want to aggravate it further.
However, Thiem still has some fight in him and has been putting in the work as well. His backhand still works quite well and could be his biggest weapon in this match.
Fognini’s serve is not his strongest suit, so the 2020 US Open champion will have plenty of chances to make inroads during return games. The Italian is rather steady from the baseline and, like Thiem, is quite at home on clay.
However, Fognini is also known to lose his temper on the court from time to time, which affects his gameplay as well.
It still doesn’t feel like Thiem is back to his best yet, so it’s tough to see him making it past Fognini in this contest.
Pick: Fabio Fognini to win in three sets.
