Match Stats/Report - Fognin vs Lajovic, Monte Carlo final, 2019

[Waspsting]

Fabio Fognini beat Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-4 in the Monte Carlo final, 2019 on clay

To date, this remains the only Masters final for both players. 13th seeded Fognini beat among others triple defending champion Rafael Nadal and third seed Alex Zverev in earlier rounds. The unseeded Lajovic had wins over Dominic Thiem and Daniil Medvedev

Fognini won 69 points, Lajovic 56

Serve Stats
Fognini...
- 1st serve percentage (41/65) 63%
- 1st serve points won (23/41) 56%
- 2nd serve points won (18/24) 75%
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (12/65) 18%

Lajovic...
- 1st serve percentage (37/60) 62%
- 1st serve points won (22/37) 59%
- 2nd serve points won (10/23) 43%
- Aces 1
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (9/60) 15%

Serve Patterns
Fognini served...
- to FH 35%
- to BH 54%
- to Body 11%

Lajovic served...
- to FH 38%
- to BH 62%

Return Stats
Fognini made...
- 47 (18 FH, 29 BH), including 2 runaround FHs & 2 runaround BHs
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 8 Errors, all unforced...
- 8 Unforced (3 FH, 5 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- Return Rate (47/56) 84%

Lajovic made...
- 51 (29 FH, 22 BH), including 8 runaround FHs
- 12 Errors, comprising...
- 11 Unforced (9 FH, 2 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- 1 Forced (1 FH)
- Return Rate (51/63) 81%

Break Points
Fognini 4/5 (4 games)
Lajovic 2/4 (4 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Fognini 18 (11 FH, 5 BH, 1 FHV, 1 OH)
Lajovic 14 (6 FH, 5 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHOH)

Fognini's FHs - 2 cc (1 return), 2 dtl (1 pass, 1 at net), 3 inside-out, 2 inside-in, 1 inside-in/cc at net, 1 drop shot
- BHs - 1 cc pass, 3 dtl, 1 drop shot

- the FHV was a non-net pass & the OH was on the bounce

Lajovic's FHs - 1 cc, 3 inside-out (1 pass), 1 inside-in, 1 drop shot
- BHs - 1 cc, 3 dtl (1 pass), 1 running-down-drop-shot cc pass at net

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Fognini 31
- 25 Unforced (17 FH, 8 BH)
- 6 Forced (4 FH, 1 BH, 1 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46

Lajovic 35
- 25 Unforced (12 FH, 12 BH, 1 OH)
- 10 Forced (6 FH, 4 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46 (raw 16-3-6)

(Note 1: All 1/2 volleys refer to such shots played at net. 1/2 volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke numbers)

(Note 2: the Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is an indicator of how aggressive the average UE was. The numbers presented for these two matches are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Fognini was 5/9 (56%) at net

Lajovic was 5/9 (56%) at net

Match Report
Bright, open court match with both players hitting wide to implement fluid, attacking rallies. Fognini is more proactive in doing so and better at it

While the action created by such play is charming, both players are also apt to miss routine shots. Aesthetically, it gets lost in the wash because there’s a lively rally just around the corner - wide cc to open court, running counter dtl or FH inside-out close to line to open court and FH inside-in or BH dtl to take advantage… a lot of running and attacking-defending dynamics. Fun stuff in short. Not necessarily better than run-of-the-mill ball-bashing with high consistency but more enjoyable to watch. The stock hitting is normal, less than ‘hard-hitting’ but not soft. Lots of change up longlines in them of the ‘edgy neutral’ variety rather than outright ‘attacking’ so even stock rallies involve moving-opponent around. And they are the minority amidst norm of side-to-side moving rallies

Serve and return aren’t too important. Serves just get the rally underway, not much difference in the types of rallies. Laj misses fair few routine second returns, sometimes via runaround FHs that’s he’s not trying to be too aggressive with

Not enough to explain the statistical strangeness of the match
First serve in virtually even (Fog 63%, Laj 62%)
First serve points won close (Fog 56%, Laj 59%). Low rates speak to serve not being much of a factor

All square so far, in fact, Laj with edge. Then…

Second serve points won - Fog 75%, Laj 43%
Sans double faults, that shifts to Fog 82%, Laj 53%

Why and how is Fog so thoroughly dominating his second serve points?
No real reason. Serve is normal point starter, not far above his first serves (same situation for Laj)
Same types of rallies develop on them as all other points

Laj does miss a few returns (7/21 to be exact, as opposed to 5/41 against first serves), while not really looking for aggressive returns, but that doesn’t explain it either. Sans unreturend serves and double faults, Fog still wins 79% of his second serve points

Just one of those things for which there's no reasonable explanation. Like Mats Wilander with huge gap in success behind first and second serve points in ‘82 French final

Gentle serving and returning isn’t difficult. 19/20 return errors for match have been marked UEs and there’s just 1 ace (which the break-up Fog doesn’t move for)
Weird that Laj misses 7 second returns with no particular aggression to account for it. That and his double faulting couple more times gives Fog negligible 18% to 15% lead in freebies

Fog returning with teasingly, pseudo-attacking placement some of the time. Wide enough to get Laj moving, not wide enough to get him defending. Laj a little less so. Fog’s weirdly high second serve points won at least indicates Laj’s inability to return those serves with heat

Both players (Fog more) look to open the court with their groundies. Laj likes wide FH cc to get his party started and takes on a few BH dtl’s for winner from normal position. Fog frequently changes up to longline off both wings in a way that keeps Laj on his toes, and it’s a little easier to find wide angled cc court opener from there. He plays wide FH inside-outs to open the court too - not so powerful that its likely to go for winner, but it does move Laj over to edge of court to retrieve, leaving Fog with open court to play FH inside-in to next. Some extra powerful, straight deep shots to push Laj back and get attack started too, but lot less than going wide

Winners - Fog 18, Laj 14
Errors Forced - Fog 10, Laj 6
UEs - both 25

UEs aren’t the only thing that have come out identical. Both players with UEFI of 46, broken down as -
- neutral - Fog 15, Laj 16
- attacking - Fog 5, Laj 3
- winner attempts - Fog 5, Laj 6

The neutrals just pop up. The hitting isn’t pressuringly strong and both players’ movements are upto handling reaching slighlty wide balls

The offence from both players is almost all about point-construction (opening up court and then going for finishing shot to it), not shot-making (going for finisher from routine positions). In that dynamic, scope for a lot of attacking UEs and FEs, so both players have done well to keep both down. In other words, not much messing up when attacking or looking to attack and defensively resistant to giving up errors on the move

 

[Waspsting]

Fog more proactive in looking to attack and getting on it and better at executing. Numbers here are very good indicator of how much and to what extent -

- Fog 18 winners, 5 UEs trying vs Laj 14 winners, 6 UEs trying
- Fog forcing 10 errors, 5 attacking UEs vs Laj forcing 6 errors, 3 errors trying

While able to attack BH dtl, Fog looks to play FHs and backs away to do so. Wide inside-out followed by inside-in is one of of his most successful plays. Hits mutliple wide FH inside-outs if necessary too, with contained power

Match high 11 winners for Fog’s FH (as many as all of Laj’s groundies), also match high 17 UEs. Also the biggest court opener in the match, so center stage in all ways. Giving up the routine error, going on attack and finishing attack. Doing the latter 2 in all directions

Not too shabby defensively either. He’s got 4 FH FEs in baseline rallies, while forced to play a number of running FHs. Laj has 6, but those are drawn by BH dtl’s as well as FH inside-in

Identical 5/9 at net for both players. Fog doesn’t actually use net, and his points there are forced or highly encouraged. Laj does. Laj has 3 genuine volley/OH winners at net (and a terrible OH UE), Fog 0 (he puts away on bounce smash, his volley winner is a non-net shot, he has 2 groundshots at net)

Laj leads his offence with wide FH cc (as opposed to Fog, who uses it in multiple directions) and doesn’t do much with BH (as opposed to Fog, who uses longline shots to move Laj about), but does take to taking on dtl winner from normal position with it
Not attacking as often as Fog (mostly due to difference in proactivity. Neither player outhits the other to get on attack)
And not able to execute as well (per UE types and aggressively won points breakdowns)
But he’s very much part of 2-man, fluid, attacking show

Match Progression
Fluent, easy on the eyes first set with court opening shots/combos followed by attacking play by both players. Laj uses wide FH cc’s most of the time to do so, Fog has more variety with dtl change-ups, occasional deep powerful shot, or drop-shot

2 trade breaks to move to 2-2. Laj breaks first to 30, with Fog dying more than living off his FH for the game. Fog breaks back in 12 point game filled with exquisite, attacking point construction from both players. Laj missing couple of well set-up FH finishers is crucial. Fog wraps up with a brilliant combo of shots (wide BH cc, drop shot to force ‘up’ shot and dismissing a FHV pass winner from no-man’s land). Earlier in the game, brilliant, full stretched BH running-down-drop-shot finely angled cc winner from Laj

It’s a bad game from Lav to get broken for 2-4. He has 2 double faults and misses a sitter FH from mid-court on break point. Typical, well-constructed point in the game too ending with a Fog FH inside-out winner

Not an easy time for Fog to see out the set. His remaining 2 holds last 8 points each and he’s down break point in the second one. Needs an unlikely running BH cc pass winner to edn the first game and saves break point with third ball FH inside-out winner on the serve out, before wrapping up set with an excellent BH dtl winner

The first half of the second set features even more attractive, fluid tennis. Sharp cc angles, going close to lines with non-attacking shots, corner-to-corner running rallies, drop shots, the works

They trade breaks to start, both brilliant games by the returner. Laj’s break-back is even better than Fog’s
Fog holds 12 point game, saving a break point where missed routine returns by Laj prove crucial (including on break point) to reach 2-2
Then breaks, with Laj missing kill shots to beautifully set up plays

Fluency of action drops considerably after that, as Fog holds onto his break to see the match through, with normal baseline tennis. Staple of most matches, a downer for this one
In time, Fog serves out to 15, with Laj missing a couple of routine second returns near the end

Summing up, lovely match of fluid, open court action and artistic, attacking point construction. Fognini is more willing to go into it, has more variety in how he goes into it and executes it that much better. Lajovic playing similar style but not as well. Few loose return errors and a few crucial finishing shot misses after excellent set-up cost him too

@BeatlesFan - you around?

Stats for Fognini’s semi-final with Rafael Nadal - Match Stats/Report - Fognini vs Nadal, Monte Carlo semi-final, 2019 | Talk Tennis