Nadal Out of U.S. Open, Cannot Shake the Curse of Fognini
In an exciting five-setter that ended well after 1:00 a.m. EST, Italian Fabio Fognini, the number 32 seed, under the lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium, came back to knock off the eighth-seeded Rafael Nadal, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
"I was starting to feel the ball really good, believe me," said Fognini. "I lost that first set 6-3, but I was saying in my mind, 'Okay, let's try … let's keep working … play your tennis."
Nadal came into the match with a dominant mark of 150-0 in Grand Slam appearances where he won the first two sets, but Fognini had other plans in scoring his third victory of 2015 over Nadal. The Italian topped Nadal back in February at the Rio Open and again in round three of the Barcelona Open.
"I fight until the last point all the time, and keep a good attitude," said Nadal. "It was not enough to win today. I lost a couple matches this year like this. But the good thing is my mind allows me to fight until the end as I did during all of my career. I enjoyed the crowd. It was amazing support out there … just a very special feeling to be out there with that support. I enjoyed that."
This year will mark the first in a decade that Nadal did not win a single Grand Slam event.
Up next for Fognini is another Spaniard, the 18th-seeded Feliciano Lopez, a winner earlier in the day over the number 10 seed, Canadian Milos Raonic. The Round of 16 matchup in Flushing will mark the first-ever career meeting between Fognini and Lopez.
