Déjà-vu Cobolli against Jarry
Flavio Cobolli, 21 year old number 64 in the world, meets the Chilean Nicolas Jarry for the third time, 28 year old number 23 ATP. The Chilean won the first match, in the qualifiers in Gstaad in 2022. It is impossible to forget their most recent match, the only one in the main draw of a major circuit tournament, at the Australian Open, which ended with their first victory in a major of the Roman. This is how Dario Castaldo described the match for SuperTennis. “Flavio, in his second appearance in the main draw of a Slam, was up to the task. A task made even more complicated by the heat and the presence of a few dozen rowdy Chilean fans. Cobolli accepted the challenge and won, just when he seemed to have used up all his resources. 6-4 3-6 6-3 2-6 7-5 the score of a match that lasted 4 hours and a few seconds, in which Jaime Fillol’s nephew was ahead 5-3 in the decisive set, served for the match on 5-4, he was two points from the finish line and was penalized after yet another ball slipped from his pocket.”
“For me it was the first real 3 out of 5… I don’t count the one with Alcaraz… it was the first time I was faced with this rule and I think I managed it as best as I could. I am very happy with how I faced the difficulties, and there were many. I honestly thought I had lost it, but at the 5-4 change I looked at my team and saw that they still believed in it and were encouraging me. I immediately changed my mind, I tried to give everything… they were right” he explained at the time at the press conference.
Whoever wins will face Roberto Bautista Agut (86 ATP) or Karen Khachanov (17) who has lost only three times on his debut in a clay tournament since 2022 and has always beaten the Spaniard on clay. Bautista, former Top 10 and Wimbledon semifinalist, boasts a final lost in Shanghai in the Masters 1000. At the Caja Magica today he is aiming for the 100th career victory in ATP main draws on clay, and the first against a Top 20 on this surface since 2014 when he beat Fabio Fognini, then number 15, in Stuttgart.
