US Open: Flavio Cobolli Collapses Against Alexander Blockx; Eliminated in Four Sets
Flavio Cobolli also bids an early farewell to the 2026 U.S. Open, having been eliminated in the third round by Belgium’s Alexander Blockx. The Italian, seeded No. 5, lost in four sets after just under three hours of play with a final score of 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-0, 6-3. Only in the first set did he manage to get the measure of his opponent, ranked No. 34 in the ATP rankings, before collapsing between the second and third sets. The Roman’s physical decline was notable: in the fifth game of the second set, he saved three break points but then conceded four games in a row to his rival. His belated attempt to get back on track was thwarted in the fourth set by his opponent, who won three consecutive games, marking the first time Blockx has reached the round of 16 at a Grand Slam.
This result is all the more surprising considering that Cobolli had already faced and defeated Blockx on two occasions in the weeks leading up to the US Open. First at the Cincinnati Masters 1000, where he defeated him 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 in a hard-fought match, coming back from a 3-5 deficit in the third set and winning the last four games in a row. Then again in the quarterfinals of the same tournament, where he advanced by defeating Rafael Jodar. The Belgian was thus able to capitalize on the experience gained in his previous matches against the Roman, completely defying the odds.
Cobolli’s elimination weighs particularly heavily on the overall outcome of the Italian contingent’s campaign at Flushing Meadows, which had begun with high hopes. There were no fewer than ten Italians in the men’s draw, a number that attests to the extraordinary depth Italian tennis has achieved. Among the most anticipated players, besides Cobolli, were Lorenzo Musetti and Luciano Darderi, though both had already been eliminated: the player from Carrara lost in the second round to Australian wild card Dane Sweeny, ranked 123rd in the world, struggling with the intense heat in New York, which caused him to feel dizzy and have difficulty breathing; Darderi, on the other hand, had advanced past the third round before being eliminated from the tournament.
Cobolli’s run at the 2026 U.S. Open had been anything but smooth from the very start. In the first round, the Roman player narrowly avoided elimination against Argentine Francisco Comesana, a qualifier ranked No. 119 in the world, losing the first two sets before staging a comeback to win. In the second round, he then faced another difficult start against Australian Tristan Schoolkate, losing the first set 3-6 before turning the tide and winning in four sets with a score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5. These signs of fragility ultimately proved decisive when Blockx raised his level of play.
Had Cobolli advanced, the draw would have pitted him against Taylor Fritz, the No. 10 seed, in the round of 16. Fritz had already secured a decisive victory over Mattia Bellucci in the second round. That high-level matchup will not take place. The overall picture remains that of a particularly wide-open tournament, especially due to the absence of Jannik Sinner, the world No. 1 and defending champion in 2024, who is dealing with inflammation in the tendons of his right knee and aims to return to competition in late September in Beijing.
