Tennis: Second seed Fabio Fognini crashes out of ASB Classic to Philipp Kohlschreiber

Fabio Fognini crashed out of the ASB Classic. Photo / Photosport

Second seed Fabio Fognini has crashed out of the ASB Classic in lifeless fashion.

The world number 13 was dispatched 6-3 6-1 in just 65 minutes by Philipp Kohlschreiber, continuing the trend of top seeds tumbling out of the Auckland event.

Fourth seed Pablo Carreno-Busta is the only seed remaining in the tournament, with the Spanish world number 24 playing Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff tonight.

The first confirmed semifinal will be an unseeded battle, with Kohlschreiber comfortably advancing to take on American Tennys Sandgren tomorrow.

Fognini put in an apathetic display of centre court, with lacklustre movement around the court as Kohlschreiber made the semifinals for the fifth time in Auckland.

Champion in Auckland in 2008 and finalist in 2013, Kohlschreiber hadn't visited the tournament since 2016, but has now added another deep run to his resume.

His 28th victory in Auckland was surprisingly easy. While the inconsistent Fognini was a $2.60 outsider for the clash, Kohlschreiber was hardly troubled, breaking early in both sets as Fognini's stand-and-deliver approach resulted in more errors than winners.

His powerful, whippy forehand was less successful than in his inconsistent three-set victory yesterday over Peter Gojowczyk, and he was terrible on serve, hitting seven double faults to no aces, and only getting 52 per cent of his first serves in play.

The second set was even worse than the first, as the German veteran wrapped up a remarkably easy victory.