Los Cabos Open: Fabio Fognini upsets top seed Juan Martin del Potro to win his third title of 2018

Los Cabos, Mexico: Second-seeded Fabio Fognini upset top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday night in the Mifel Open final. The fourth-ranked del Potro missed a chance to win in his first event since a five-set loss to Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon quarter-finals. The 2009 US Open champion has 22 victories, winning this year on hard courts at Indian Wells and Acapulco. [caption id=“attachment_4896111” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Fabio Fognini poses with the trophy after winning the final. Image courtesy: Twitter @AbiertoLosCabos[/caption] Fognini gave up an opening break and fell in a 3-0 hole but was nearly flawless from there, starting with a streak of five consecutive games. The Italian converted his second set point and then broke Del Potro twice early in the second set to grab a 5-1 advantage and wrap up the match in 79 minutes. Again sporting a bizarre hairstyle that he has said was the result of a lost bet, Fognini won 61 of 108 total points (56 percent) while converting all four of his opportunities to break Del Potro, who had won the only previous tournament matchup between the pair. Ranked 15th in the world, the 31-year-old Fognini claimed his third title of the year (Bastad, Sao Paulo) and eighth of his career and first ever on hardcourts. He has never ranked higher than 13th in the world in his career. Del Potro, the world’s fourth-ranked player, had won previously in Mexico this year at Acapulco, but he lost 12 of the final 15 games of the match. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t play my best tennis in the final,” Del Potro said afterward. “But Fabio deserved to win. He played a very smart game. He took all the chances to win, and I think he’s a good winner of the tournament.” In the doubles final, third-seeded Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela of Mexico beat Taylor Fritz of the United States and Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia 6-4, 6-4. With inputs from agencies