Franulovic shares why Lorenzo Sonego may be similar to Rafael Nadal
In an interview to Ubitennis, the Monte Carlo Masters Tournament Director Zeljko Franulovic commented on the Lorenzo Sonego's great run. The Italian won five matches in a row between qualies and main draw and lost to Dusan Lajovic in the quarter-finals. "Unfortunately I did not know him before. I know his results but here he had something special. It could have been like Rafael Nadal in 2005 but let's put the expectations down. I saw he is a young guy who is not afraid of anything, he has a good game but that's not enough. He needs mentality, fierce and put all the things together. I saw him playing despite the many commitments", said Franulovic, who is happy with the great results achieved by Italians: "It is a relationship that has been going on for decades, a lot of Italians live here. In the tournament, people speak Italian and so many country's players doing well in the event is a blessing.
I remember Nicola Pietrangeli and Adriano Panatta and now there are those interesting younger players. I am sorry for Marco Cecchinato, but Fabio Fognini here is the most loved player by the crowd."
It will be Daniil Medvedev and Dusan Lajovic to open the Saturday schedule at the Monte Carlo Masters on Saturday. The Russian leads the head to head meetings 1-0 having won in last year's Moscow event 6-2 6-1. After that Rafael Nadal will face Fabio Fognini for the 15th time in career. The Spaniard won their last match dated back to last year's Rome in three sets. Fognini beat Nadal three times out of 14, always in 2015 in Rio de Janeiro and Barcelona on clay and US Open on hard. The Mallorcan seeks his 72nd match win in the event while Fognini is playing his second semifinal here after the one lost to Novak Djokovic in 2013.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2IxkmPK
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