Two points from the brink
Flavio Cobolli got out of jail. The Italian, the No 7 seed, beat Alexander Blockx 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 on Monday in the third round of the Cincinnati Open in Mason, Ohio. The Belgian, seeded 28th, had led 5-3 in the deciding set and served for the match.
Cobolli broke back. Then he rattled off the last four games. “I’m a warrior, you know. I really don’t like losing,” he said into the microphone straight after the match.
Try it for $0.99.
Monte-Carlo was still on his mind
Blockx had already beaten Cobolli this season, in Monte-Carlo. The Belgian fired 10 aces on Monday and levelled the match by taking the second set. It looked done.
“Today, I got a bit of luck on that return,” Cobolli said of the point that sparked the comeback. “We put on a great battle and we both deserved to win, but this time it is mine.”
Rafael Jodar waits in the last 16. The 19-year-old Spaniard, seeded 12th, swept aside Alejandro Tabilo 6-2, 6-1 without dropping serve once, hitting 10 aces, winning 76.7% of points behind his first delivery and breaking the Chilean five times.
De Minaur needed a rain delay to survive
Thiago Agustin Tirante is still rolling after his upset of Novak Djokovic in the previous round. The Argentine knocked out Spain’s Martin Landaluce 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), with just one break apiece across the match and two tie-breaks handled with plenty of nerve.
Alex de Minaur also went through in straight sets, but it was far from comfortable. The fifth seed saw off Britain’s Arthur Fery 7-5, 7-6 (3) in a match broken up by rain. The Australian led 5-1 in the second before the stoppage hauled his opponent back into it. Fery won five games in a row to lead 6-5. De Minaur held, then took charge of the tie-break.
Find the rest of the TENNIS news on our mathodds website and app!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply