Rome, Flavio Cobolli comes close to a feat with Korda

Flavio Cobolli – Sebastian Korda 6-7 6-4 4-6

Flavio Cobolli came close to pulling off a feat in the second round of the Internazionali d'Italia. In front of the home crowd, the Roman tennis player è surrendered to the U.S. Sebastian Korda, 24th seed and number 27 in the ATP ranking, after almost three hours of struggle. 7-6 4-6 6-4 was the final score in favor of the American.

In the first set it was the serve that dominated è until the decisive tie-break where it was point to point until 4-3 Korda. Here the U.S. placed the first mini-break and went ahead 6-5: Cobolli nullified his opponent’s set point but on the second he had to surrender, with the American cashing in the first partial, winning the decisive game by 8 points to 6.

In the second set Cobolli è good save in the fourth game, in which he nullified two break points. At 4-4 the balance is broken: the Azure earns two consecutive break points and on the second one he scores with a great forehand down the line. Flavio did not tremble on serve and closed the second partial 6-4, taking the challenge to the third and decisive set.

In the third partial Cobolli started strong and went ahead by a break (2-1), then confirmed (3-1). In the sixth game però comes the reaction of Korda, who brings the score back to even; thanks to an error with the Roman’s forehand (3-3). Down 5-4, Flavio serves to stay in the match but the Italian loses the serve at the advantages thanks to two passes of the American that earn him the match.

Cobolli must thus bid farewell to the Rome Masters 1000 while Korda advances to the third round where he will face the winner of the match between Fabio Fognini and Taylor Fritz.