When Flavio Cobolli plays against Alexander Zverev in Halle: only one previous between the two
After beating rising star Joao Fonseca in the first round and former world No. 10 Denis Shapovalov in the round of 16, Flavio Cobolli is playing for access to the semifinals of the Terra Wortmann Open, the ATP 500 tournament in Halle, Germany, against the tournament’s highest seed remaining in the tournament, Alexander Zverev.
The 2002-born Roman and the Russian-born German will take the court at the end of the match between Alex Michelsen and Daniil Medvedev, and in any case not before 1 p.m.
Between the two there is only one precedent, moreover a very recent one: last May 31, in fact, Cobolli and Zverev faced each other in the third round at Roland Garros, with victory of the current world No. 3 in three sets, 6-2, 7-6(4), 6-1.
In Halle, Cobolli is looking for a big satisfaction against a top-ranked opponent, who after Jannik Sinner’s elimination at the hands of Alexander Bublik has the highest seeding number among the eight participants in the quarterfinals: the winner will face Michelsen or Medvedev in the semifinals of the German tournament, now a traditional pre-Wimbledon fixture.
On the other side of the draw, however, Alexander Bublik will face Tomas Machac, the tournament’s No. 7 seed, while No. 8 seed Karen Khachanov will face Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry. With the elimination of Sinner, winner in 2024, there is sure to be another champion in Halle: the last person to win consecutively multiple times in the German city was Roger Federer, champion in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
