Rio Open: Fourth seed Fabio Fognini overcomes tricky Jiri Vesely

Italy’s Fabio Fognini looked as though he would fail at the first hurdle of the Rio Open after failing to find his form in the opening set before finally beating Jiri Vesely 1-6 7-6 6-1.

Fognini was a no show in the first set before going on to win in an hour and 40 minutes, a trend he repeated from last week’s second set against Diego Schartzman in the Brazil Open.

Vesely’s confidence visibly faded as Fognini fought back at the end of the second set which resulted in frustration and an injury time-out for the Czech.

"It was a strange match," Fognini told the official ATP Tour website. "It was a very difficult one because I played really bad at the beginning.

“In the second set, I was 5-3 up and serving for the set, but I lost that game. I was a little bit unlucky to lose that game, but I kept playing the best I could, hanging in there, even though it was a difficult match for me.

"Then in the second set, after facing three match points, it was a little bit easier. Of course, the third set was hard for both of us, but more for him because he had the chance to win."

Brazil’s own Joao Souza joins Fognini in the second round after easing past Facundo Arguello of Argentina 6-2 6-1.