The Tuscan takes advantage of Mertens’ withdrawal after seven games, the Roman comesback to beat the revelation Hussey
Two victories for the Italians in Eastbourne: Jasmine Paolini and Flavio Cobolli qualify for the quarter-finals of the WTA 500 and ATP 250 respectively. Paolini got the better of Elise Mertens by taking advantage of the Belgian’s withdrawal at the score of 5-2 in the first set for a knee problem. Seven games in which the Italian played excellent tennis, always aggressive from the baseline, always looking for the net after a few shots and very strong-willed, always looking to put the world number 33 in difficulty, especially on the backhand side. Tomorrow there will be another difficult test like Katie Boulter: the Briton is in great shape on grass and represents a good test in view of Wimbledon.
Nice comeback on the part of Cobolli who beat the English lucky loser Giles Hussey (n.359 ATP) with a score of 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in almost two hours of play. A truly great match for the Roman player: he was in a bad situation, having badly lost the first set when he was ahead 4-1, but he reacted brilliantly and managed the decisive moments between the second and third sets perfectly, defusing the almost constant serve and volley from his opponent. Tomorrow he will find Billy Harris to try to go even further and reach the semi-final.
