Four hours to fix a bad start
Flavio Cobolli had never won a match from two sets down. On Tuesday, on Louis Armstrong Stadium, the fifth seed finally did, beating Argentina’s Francisco Comesana 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 after four hours and 13 minutes.
The first two sets were close to a collapse. Comesana, ranked 119th and playing without pressure, took them while the Italian sprayed errors. What changed was the third set, where Cobolli faced eight break points and saved all eight. Comesana never got another look of that quality.
By the fourth set the balance had shifted completely. Cobolli took control, and the match went to a decider with Comesana having spent most of his energy chasing the Italian’s serve.
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The decider swung twice
Comesana broke first in the fifth. Cobolli broke straight back to level, broke again for 5-4, then closed it out with a forehand volley and dropped to his knees on the concrete.
“In a Grand Slam it’s never done,” Cobolli said. “You have to fight to the last point.”
Context matters for how much this result was worth. Cobolli reached the Roland Garros final earlier this year, losing to Alexander Zverev, and arrived in New York seeded fifth with the sort of expectation he has never carried at a major before. A first-round exit to a player outside the top 100 would have reopened every question about whether the French Open run was a one-off.
A day the weather ran
The Italian was fortunate to be under a roof. Play on the outside courts started almost four hours late, more rain arrived in the evening, and at least five matches were postponed altogether. Elena Rybakina was among those left waiting before beating American wild card Thea Frodin 6-3, 6-2.
Elsewhere on the covered courts, ninth seed Taylor Fritz saw off fellow American Darwin Blanch 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, and Madison Keys got past 19-year-old Russian Alina Korneeva 7-5, 6-4. Top seed Zverev opened against Lorenzo Sonego in the Ashe nightcap.
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