Flavio Cobolli, fatal a double tie-break
Flavio Cobolli-Ben Shelton 6-7 6-7
Flavio Cobolli does not get unstuck. The Roman, in fact, suffers his sixth consecutive defeat in 2025, leaving the scene once again in the first round. In his debut in the Acapulco ATP 500, the Italian fought for more than two hours against Ben Shelton, the fifth seeded seed, but it wasn't enough: 7-6 7-6 was the final score in favor of the American.
In the first set è service was the dominant factor with the only break points (four) conceded and cancelled by Cobolli in the fourth game. It thus comes to the tie-break where the Roman starts well and goes up 3-2 and serve. From here, però, Shelton wins five of the last six points and makes the decisive game his own by 7 points to 4.
The Italian, however, is not discouraged and immediately flies ahead by a break in the second partial (3-0). The American's reaction, however, è immediate: counter-break and hooking on 3-3. In the 12th game Cobolli did not take advantage of two set-points in response: è again tie-break and the result did not change with Shelton winning it 7-4.
Cobolli must thus bid farewell to the''Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC'. However, two other Azzurri remain on the scoreboard: Matteo Arnaldi, who will challenge Alexander Zverev, the number one seed, and Mattia Bellucci, who was re-drawn as a lucky loser in place of the injured Lorenzo Musetti, who will face Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
