Grand Slam titles. Wins over top-four players. Singles finals made with seeming regularity.

It all seems to be par for the course for Italian men on the ATP World Tour so far in 2015.
 
The latest impressive result just occurred this past weekend when the fiery Fabio Fognini knocked off top seed Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of the Rio Open in Brazil. Losses by Nadal on clay over the past 10 years can nearly be tallied by hand, they are so few and far between—even after he’s missed extended periods of playing time due to injury.

Fognini halted his own losing streak against Nadal, rallying after dropping the first set. And even though he was unable to put another winless run to bed in the finals against David Ferrer (whom he’s now 0-8 against), it’s still Fognini’s best singles result so far in the season.
 
Surprisingly, doubles has gone quite well for him. After falling in the first round of singles at the year’s first major, the Australian Open, Fognini tore through the draw in doubles with his compatriot Simone Bolelli. Their victory marked the first time in more than 50 years that a pair of Italian men had teamed up to win a Grand Slam.
 
But the triumph by Fognini and Bolelli wasn’t the only noteworthy accomplishment Down Under. One of their countrymen, the always-solid Andreas Seppi, caused the biggest shockwave during the first week of the tournament when he knocked off second seed and four-time Australian Open champion Roger Federer in the third round.
 
Federer had started the season off in fine fashion, having won the warm-up event in Brisbane before the tournament’s start and his first two rounds in Melbourne (including a second-round matchup with Bolelli). The Swiss superstar went into his third-round match with Seppi obviously feeling good about his chances, having won their 10 prior contests with only the loss of one set. But every now and then, the tide turns and Seppi played inspired tennis to take the match.
 
Even though he lost to rising Australian Nick Kyrgios in his next match, Seppi’s good play continued into his next tournament in Zagreb, Croatia, where he made his first singles final in three years.
 
Sandwiched between the title-tilt appearances by Seppi and Fognini was perhaps the most unlikely one of them all. Luca Vanni came through the qualifying rounds at the ATP World Tour event in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to make his first tour-level final before falling to Pablo Cuevas in a third-set tiebreak.The 29-year-old Vanni has moved closer to that-sometimes-magical benchmark of the top 100, a place where some of his fellow Italians have staked a firm foothold.
 
Based on the level of play of its top players—and even unheralded ones like Vanni—Italy could present a formidable threat in Davis Cup this year.
 
They’re already made their presence felt on a near-weekly basis so far in 2015.