Madrid, Cobolli beats Tabilo, Arnaldi overwhelms O’Connell and finds Medvedev

Giuseppe Di Giovanni

April 25, 2024 (changed at 2.51pm) – MILAN

Flavio Cobolli writes a very important piece of history in his career. The Roman gets his first victory in a 1000 on clay (he had already won a match in Miami) and beats the Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, entering the second round in Madrid, where he will face Chile’s number 1 Nicolas Jarry (the last previous one won in 5 sets by Cobolli at the 2024 Australian Open). Cobolli, with this 5-7 6-4 6-4 success, continues to improve the rankings: his impression is that the best is yet to come.

the match

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Cobolli chooses to answer very far from the bottom line and at first the decision seems not to be the right one. Tabilo, after canceling 3 break points in the very difficult third game, breaks the serve in the next game and could even turn Cobolli’s set into a nightmare in the sixth game, when he wastes two opportunities for a double break. Clinging to the match, Flavio gets back to 3-5, but Tabilo serves for the set: there Cobolli extends the exchange and wins three consecutive points that put the match back on serve. At 5-5 the direction seems to be that of the tie-break and instead Tabilo finds a partial of 8 points to 1 which condemns Cobolli to lose the set after 44 minutes of battle.

the epilogue

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Flavio gets back into the game with his usual desire, but at 2-2 and 0-30 he misses an easy smash that would have changed everything. Tabilo holds serve to the advantage and continues without a break. At 4-4, in the ninth game, Flavio has two more break points to serve for the set: the first was enough, with another wrong backhand from Tabilo. Cobolli remains centered and closes with the seventh ace, sending the match to the third set. The Chilean struggled enormously to hold serve in the first game of the third set, but survived the chaos and found the break to make it 2-0 (his backhand on the line was splendid at 30-30). At 3-0 it seems over, but with 3 consecutive games Flavio puts everything back on track. At 4-4 every point becomes very heavy and Cobolli becomes unplayable: break at 0 and the game on ice, despite Flavio having to cancel a break point to close the match 6-4.

Arnaldi avalanche

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On a perfect day for all Italians Arnaldi also passes by. The Sanremo player beats the Australian O’Connell and enters the second round in Madrid, where he will face the number 3 seed Daniil Medvedev. It will be the third overall match between the two: in the first two matches always simple victories for the Russian, who never gave up a set to the blue in Dubai and Toronto. Watch out for this match, because Meddy doesn’t like red and Matteo could at least try to surprise him. Meanwhile, O’Connell’s resistance lasts for around 40 minutes, holding on until the tenth game of the first set, the one that could send the match to a tie-break, but which gives Arnaldi the break that is worth the set at the first opportunity. The Australian loosens up and scores a partial of 12 points to 4 for Arnaldi, who takes off in the second partial. It ends 6-4 6-1 for Matteo (27 points to 12 in the set), with O’Connell giving up the match, leaving it in the hands of the blue. Arnaldi, who last year won the first two matches here in a 1000 (against Paire and Ruud), wants to at least match the results of 2023. To do so he will have to beat one of the best players in the world.