Italian Flavio Cobolli has made the quarterfinal in the ATP 250 Munich. Who is this surprise quarter finalist?
Flavio Cobolli: New Italian Star
Flavio Cobolli is a 20-year-old right-handed player, with a two-handed back hand. The young Italian turned professional in lockdown. Starting on the ITF part of the tour Cobolli won his first title on clay in Antalya, Turkey in 2021, once tennis had restarted.
Cobolli is very much at home on clay. The 20-year-old won the 2020 junior boys doubles at Roland Garros with Dominik Stricker. The Italian soon progressed to the ATP Challenger tour once he turned professional. However, it wasn’t until March last year that Cobolli won his first Challenger title. Having made finals in Rome & Barletta (both in Italy) in May and August 2021, it took until March 2022 to hit the next Challenger final. The previous finals had been lost having won the second set, but in Zadar Croatia, the young Italian won in straight sets to claim the title. Shortly after, Cobolli reached a new career high ranking of 133.
BMW Open
With his current ranking around 208 the Italian needed to enter qualifying in Munich. Cobolli was the fifth seed and faced Lukas Rosol in the first qualifying round. The Czech had nothing to offer as the Italian strolled through dropping only 3 games. Then in the final qualifying round, the 20-year-old was against Zdenek Kolar. Again Cobolli eased through and only dropped 4 games.
In the main draw the Italian got Jordan Thompson in the first round. After a tough battle in the first set, in which the 20-year-old edged through after breaking the Australian, Cobolli strolled through the second set. Then he was up against German Oscar Otte. The German being a much more experienced player, having made at least the second round in each of the four Grand Slams, should have been the favorite for this.
Cobolli dominated the first set, before Otte fought back and levelled up. However, the Italian was on a role now and eased through to the quarter final. This will be against Christopher O’Connell, another Australian who also has Grand Slam experience.
There are only three seeds remaining in Munich, but Cobolli is the only qualifier left in the draw. There is a very good chance that at his first time of asking, the Italian could take his maiden main ATP Tour title.
Main Photo Credit: Matthias Hauer/GEPA via USA TODAY Sports
