Flavio Cobolli avenges Musetti and Bellucci at the U.S. Open: He’s through to the third round

Flavio Cobolli avenged the losses of Lorenzo Musetti and Mattia Bellucci—both of whom were eliminated earlier in the day—and wrapped up Italy’s Thursday at the 2026 U.S. Open with a smile. The 24-year-old, born in Florence and raised in Rome, advances to the third round at Flushing Meadows, coming from behind to defeat Australian Tristan Schoolkate in four sets. The match ended with a score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 after just under two and three-quarters hours of play, allowing the Italian, currently ranked No. 6 in the ATP rankings, to set his sights on Belgian Alexander Blockx in his next match on the hard courts of New York.

As we’ve seen throughout his run at the US Open, Cobolli got off to a rough start: an unforced error on his part and a winning forehand by Schoolkate led to the decisive point for the break on the cross-court shot that followed shortly after. The momentum of the match, however, shifted in the closing stages of an extremely evenly matched second set, decided by a break at 5-3 in favor of the Italian. The match remained a point-for-point battle in the third set as well, with the Roman player drawing applause for a front-court tweener that led to another break in the pivotal game, sealing the set 6-4. The match was so evenly matched that the decisive set featured a sensational point at 5-5 when the ball hit the line, followed by another break that put him up 6-5 and, one game later, sealed the victory.

This isn’t the first time Cobolli has had to deal with a difficult start at Flushing Meadows: as early as the first round, the Roman had risked elimination against Argentine Francisco Comesana, ranked 119th in the world, losing the first two sets before staging a comeback and winning with a score of 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 4-6. That resilient victory had already demonstrated the Italian’s ability to never give up in the toughest moments—a trait now reaffirmed by this latest comeback against Schoolkate.

However, as mentioned, the day for Italy was also marked by two significant upsets. Mattia Bellucci suffered a decisive defeat at the hands of Taylor Fritz on the hard courts of Arthur Ashe Stadium: the Bustocco native, ranked No. 95 in the ATP rankings, lost 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 in just over an hour and a half to the circuit’s 10th seed. It was a decisive defeat, despite the first set being more closely contested than the score suggests, with Bellucci having challenged Fritz on several occasions before losing his serve. Even more bitter was the evening for Lorenzo Musetti, who was eliminated in four sets by Australian wild card Dane Sweeny, ranked 123rd in the world, with a score of 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2: the player from Carrara struggled with the intense heat in New York, which caused him to feel dizzy and have difficulty breathing, forcing him to take a medical timeout during the match.

Good news, however, comes from Luciano Darderi, who advanced to the third round by defeating Czech player Dalibor Svrcina 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4 in over three and a quarter hours of play. It was a tense and hard-fought match, in which both players smashed their rackets and the Czech player alone racked up a total of 20 double faults. In the third round, Darderi will face wild card Dane Sweeny—the very same opponent who eliminated Musetti.

The overall picture of the Italian contingent at Flushing Meadows remains, however, extraordinarily impressive: after all, there were no fewer than ten Italians in the men’s draw, a number that attests to the depth Italian tennis has achieved. Cobolli, the tournament’s fifth seed, is now Italy’s main hope, and, according to the draw, he could face Taylor Fritz in the round of 16—a matchup that was already anticipated before the tournament began.

The overall context remains that of a particularly wide-open draw, especially due to the absence of Jannik Sinner, the world No. 1 and 2024 defending champion. The South Tyrolean is undergoing rehabilitation at J Medical in Turin for inflammation in the tendons of his right knee, with the goal of returning to competition in late September in Beijing. Taking over as the top favorite is Carlos Alcaraz, the defending champion, who is returning after more than four months on the sidelines due to a wrist injury: “Coming back here and playing best-of-five sets after such a long time will be really challenging,” the Spaniard admitted.