THE King of Clay. Rafael Nadal is hardly ever beaten on the surface, let alone in a Masters event like Monte Carlo. Rewinding 12 months ago and the Spaniard was entering the ATP 1000 event vying for his 12th title in 16 years. Aside from his three-year break from winning the tournament between 2013-15 (where he lost to eventual winner Novak Djokovic in the final and semi-finals either side if a defeat to compatriot David Ferrer in the quarters), Nadal had a stranglehold on the title.

With $9.4 million AUD of prize money on the line, it is fair to say the Monte Carlo tournament attracts the best possible ATP Tour stars. Last year was no different, with Roger Federer the only player missing from the All-Star lineup. With reigning champion Nadal looking for his fourth straight title, Djokovic returned to try and further extend his lead on the number one position. There was a distinct change in world tennis though, with young guns, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas serious threats, while those hitting their prime, Dominic Thiem and Daniil Medvedev were also attending Monte Carlo with a clear strength on the clay. Further down the seeding, the reliable Fabio Fognini was seeded 13th as the world number 18, but was not considered a threat compared to the others. after all, while Fognini’s preference was clay – he had won seven of his eight titles on the surface – he had never won a Masters tournament previously.

The run:

Fognini had far from an easy run into the famed semi-final clash, having to take on qualifier Andrey Rublev – who was clearly building into something special – in the Round of 64. He defeated him 4-6 7-5 6-4 before earning that easier reprieve with a walkover against Frenchman, Gilles Simon in the Round of 32. Straight into the Round of 16, he faced fourth favourite, Zverev who was seeded third and behind Djokovic, Nadal and Thiem considered one of the major threats. Fognini dealt with him in straight sets, 7-6 6-1 and the 13th seed advanced through to the quarter finals.

With Thiem also shocked in the Round of 16, by Dusan Lajovic, Fognini would take on ninth seed Borna Coric with an eye on knowing Nadal would be waiting in the semi-finals. He struggled early against the Croatian, dropping the first set 6-1, before managing to bounce back to win in three sets, 1-6 6-3 6-2. The only other three setter of the quarter finals was Medvedev upsetting Djokovic in an epic contest, 6-3 4-6 6-2. Given the world number one, the next best clay courter and the top up-and-coming young gun were out, the tournament was clearly Nadal’s to lose.

The semi-finals saw Lajovic then cause another upset by downing Medvedev 7-5 6-1, with the Serbian to meet the winner of the Nadal and Fognini clash.

[13] Fabio Fognini (ITA) vs. [2] Rafael Nadal (ESP)

Nadal won the toss and opted to serve first in a game that lasted a whopping 20 points off the bat. The Italian was clearly up for a fight and it showed, with terrific perseverance to break the Spaniard, surprising the crowd. The world number two showed you can never turn your back on him though, immediately breaking back. As if spurred on by that opening game challenge, Nadal then held serve and broke the Italian yet again – this time to love – causing the Italian’s fiery attitude to get the better of him, copping a code violation at 1-3.

Whatever he managed to do galvanised himself as Fognini then returned yet another break to the Spaniard, this time without having to go to deuce. After a shaky start to the sixth game, Fognini fought back to win it and then level the set at 3-3. Nadal held his serve to go one-up at 4-3, but something clicked in the world number 18. Fognini held his serve then stunned the crowd by breaking Nadal’s serve to love. He then held serve in the 10th game to win the set 6-4, winning five of the last six games of the set to go a set up against the reigning champion.

Many were waiting for Nadal to come back with a fiery vengeance in the second set, but instead it was the 13th seed who stepped up to another level, breaking the Spaniard three consecutive times in the first five games to go 5-0 and be serving for the match. The crowd knew it was witnessing one of the greatest clay court performances to-date when Fognini went 40-0 up in the sixth game, holding three match points against the 11-time champion. Then Nadal roared to life, refusing to give in and fighting back to win the next game breaking back and then holding serve to reduce the damage to 2-5. While he might have squandered his first three match points, Fognini would not do so with his fourth one, going 40-15 up in the eighth game of the second set and won it, to take out the match 6-4 6-2.

Fognini finished the match winning a remarkable 56 per cent of Nadal’s first serve points, and 61 per cent of his second serve points. He struggled with efficiency off his own first serve (48 per cent), but had a higher winning rate of 63 and 54 per cent respectively off his first and second serves.

The aftermath:

Fognini would go on to defeated Lajovic in straight sets, 6-3 6-4 and claim the biggest tournament title of his career. The result saw the Italian jump up six spots to number 12 in the world, really kick-starting his charge to a career-high ninth during the year. The loss did not do too much for Nadal, who bounced back to claim the French Open, and eventually get to world number one again with the US Open title too.