Novak Djokovic survives Indian Wells wobble to make it 19 victories in a row
Italian Fognini's first set tactics of going for broke backfired horribly as he was bagelled by the world No 1.
He switched tactics, rallying doggedly from the baseline and forcing Djokovic to force the pace and the mistakes came as the Serb, looking to wrap things up quickly, lost patience.
Fognini - who punched the air and celebrated with the crowd after winning his first game at the eighth attempt - played one of the best sets of his career and levelled up the match.
But in the third Djokovic pulled himself together and broke for a 4-2 lead in the decider, holding, and breaking again.
Tactics
"One thing is for sure," Djokovic said. "When you win 6-0 first set you need to be a little extra focused for the start of the second because the player will definitely change something in his tactics, in his game and will try to come back. That's what happened.
"He made me work. He made me earn my points. But in the end I have done what I need to do, so I feel good about myself."
Elsewhere No 8 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat wild card James Blake 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 and seventh seed Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina scrapped past veteran Nikolay Davydenko 6-3 6-4, though some of the lower seeds were knocked out.
Marinko Matosevic of Australia upset No 14 seed Juan Monaco 7-5 6-0 and Germany's Bjorn Phau beat No 25 seed Jeremy Chardy of France 6-2 2-6 6-4.
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