ITALIAN veteran Fabio Fognini is not one to make life easy on himself, but despite missing opportunities to claim his second round Wimbledon match against eighth seed Casper Ruud earlier, still managed to get the job done in three hours and 18 minutes.

He was two breaks up in the third set, had amble opportunities to knock off the claycourt talent sooner, but in the end the box office Italian got the job done in four sets, 6-4 7-5 6-7 6-3. The 37-year-old might be in the twilight of his career as Italy’s newest generation takes centre stage, but Fognini still has a few tricks up his sleeve as he showed against the Norwegian.

Sporting bleach blonde hair, Fognini looked new and played like new, hitting 59 winners to only 48 unforced errors, outhitting his higher ranked opponent who had 48 and 47 respectively. Though Fognini did serve 10 double faults to keep Ruud in the contest, he closed out five breaks of service compared to the world number eight’s two.

“That’s why I love and hate this sport at the same time,” Fognini said post-match. “I was really in control of the match; I was 5-2, 30-0 [in the third set] and in this game, he play two or three shots when he say ‘let’s go: if it’s in, it’s in. If it’s out the match is over’.

“After that, 5-4 – that’s tension. That’s the sport. Too many things coming into my mind, why I lost this game. And he was playing better, serving better. On the other hand I lost this tie-break and I say ‘OK, I am two sets to one up. I am still in control of the match so let’s play. Let’s enjoy. I think I did a great job today!”

Fognini plays another veteran up next in Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut who took out the Italian’s compatriot, Lorenzo Sonego in four sets. The daw has wildly opened up for the Italian with 12 seeded Tommy Paul likely one standing between him and a quarter finals showdown with world number three, Carlos Alcaraz.

AROUND THE COURTS

Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis produced a sterling comeback against Canadian 17th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime after a long rain delay. Trailing two sets to love and saving match points in the third set, the Aussie returned at 1-1 in the fourth set to finish off the contest in four hours and 38 minutes to win, 4-6 5-7 7-6 6-4 6-4.

The news was not as positive for the other Aussie out on court in Aleksandar Vukic who bravely fought hard against Alcaraz in the first set before the Spaniard put the foot down to win 7-6 6-2 6-2. Alcaraz’s biggest rivals in Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev both had scares against Matteo Berrettini and Alexandre Muller.