The Roman prevailed over the Russian after a battle of two hours and twenty minutes. “I like playing here, the fast pitch helps my game, I think I played a great match.” Musetti eliminated
A battle of two hours and twenty minutes, three sets of tennis at the highest level and at the end Flavio Cobolli beats the Russian Daniil Medvedev in three sets and he qualifies for the first time in his career for the quarterfinals of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid where the favorite remains Jannik Sinner who had already secured his ticket to the quarterfinals in the morning. Cobolli instead finishes playing almost at midnight and thank goodness he will have a day of rest after the marathon with the Russian, his quarterfinal match is in fact scheduled for Thursday and Flavio will face the winner of the match between the number two seeds Alexander Zverev and the Czech Jakub Mensik.
The match
After the final reached at the Munich tournament, Flavio gives himself the second most important quarter-final of his career after the one achieved last summer at the Wimbledon tournament. In fact, at the end of a ‘head and heart’ match, Cobolli surpassed the former world n°1 and current n°10 in the world rankings Daniil Medvedev. For Cobolli a success obtained with a score of 6-3 5-7 6-4 at the end of a 2 and a half hour battle. The Roman started very strong and won the first set, ahead 6-3 4-2 and gave the feeling of having undermined Medvedev’s ambitions with a truly explosive match from the baseline. The Russian was able to get back into the set at 4-4, and then snatching serve and set from Flavio in the twelfth game, thus dragging everything to the third set. Cobolli at that point seemed to have less energy than Medvedev, but he didn’t give up, in the eighth game he came back from 0-30 on his serve and from there he found the energy again for a great final. He broke Medvedev’s serve and then closed 6-4.
Flavio’s happiness
After shaking hands with the Russian, Cobolli showed up very tired for the post-match interview, but very happy with the victory and the performance. In this tournament he has twice beaten players who are in the top ten and his growth path continues. “It was going well, I was ahead 6-3 and 4-2 but Daniil is a great player and he showed it tonight too. It was a very good match, I had fun. I like playing here in Madrid because the slightly faster surface suits my game. It’s a moment in my life where I’m enjoying everything without thinking too much, tennis is not a job for me but a great passion. It’s wonderful to play these tournaments and compete with the best in the world.” Flavio is now among the best, he demonstrated this by beating Medvedev.
Musetti outside
A bad defeat, however, that of Lorenzo Musetti, eliminated in the round of 16. Not so much for the match lost, but for how it happened. The Tuscan, last year’s semi-finalist, lost clearly (6-3 6-3 in an hour and 14 minutes) to the Czech Jiri Lehecka, world number 14 in the world.
