Flavio Cobolli aims to stun Alex de Minaur in Thursday's second-round match at the Vienna Open.
The Italian player defeated Alejandro Davidovich in two sets in round one, while his top-10 opponent needed a turnaround against Jan-Lennard Struff to avoid early elimination in Austria.
Match preview
Despite his poor break-point conversion in his tournament opener, Cobolli had enough to secure a 7-6(1), 6-3 win over his Spanish opponent.
The Italian raised his level in the first-set tie-break to edge ahead before converting a break point opportunity from seven engineered to seal the straight-set victory that sets up Thursday's match with the nine-time tour-level champion.
Having never beaten any top-10 player in nine attempts, recently losing to idol Novak Djokovic in Shanghai, the world No. 31 faces an uphill task to stun the Australian No. 1.
Cobolli will need to elevate his playing level in the round-two match and execute clinically whenever he conjures opportunities on his opponent's deliveries to end his hoodoo against top-ranked competitors.
That will be easier said than done against his Australian opponent, who is making a late play to secure a ticket to the ATP Finals in Turin next month.
De Minaur needed a comeback after losing the first set against Struff to claim sets two and three and notch a 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory that keeps him ninth in the live race to notch one of the remaining four spots.
While the 25-year-old outstandingly converted four of six break-point opportunities, he will hope to avoid the slack tennis in set one that saw him trail his German opponent when he returns to the court on Thursday.
Tuesday's three-set victory means the nine-time ATP Tour champion's last three matches have gone the distance, and even though he advanced in two of those encounters — he beat Roberto Carballes Baena in Antwerp and Struff but lost to Hugo Gaston last week in Belgium — the 25-year-old hopes for a less demanding evening against Cobolli.
Tournament so far
Flavio Cobolli:
First round: vs. Alejandro Davidovich 7-6(1) 6-3
Alex de Minaur:
First round: vs. Jan-Lennard Struff 2-6 6-2 6-2
Head To Head
Australian Open (2024) - Third round: De Minaur 6-3 6-3 6-1
One of Cobolli's nine losses against top-10 players came at this year's Australian Open, where he lost in straight sets to the home player.
De Minaur's 42-14 win-loss record in 2024 betters the 22-year-old's 35-26 record, further highlighting the Australian player's superiority.
We say: De Minaur to win in three sets
While Cobolli will be motivated to avoid going 0-10 against top-10 opponents, De Minaur's quality should tell in the second-round match, and he is favoured to progress to the last eight and advance his Turin ambition.
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