Flavio Cobolli reached the quarter-finals again this time, after the exploit in Montpellier, but had to surrender against Frances Tiafoe, number 2 seed of the ATP 250 in Delray Beach, dragged by the home crowd towards a victory that was not too complex . Cobolli, once again on the rise, took advantage of the luck of entering the main draw as a lucky loser, before giving in to a more experienced and – at this moment – stronger player than him. He finishes 6-4 6-2 for the American, who in the semi-final will challenge Tommy Paul in a wonderful derby, in a positive streak of 6 games and fresh from the victory in Dallas. An hour and 10 minutes of play is enough for Frances to reach the second round.
the match
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Cobolli, who managed to advance to the third set against Svajda, struggled a lot with his serves right from the start. The forehand, the Roman’s lethal weapon, does not have the impact as usual and Tiafoe quickly goes up 4-1. With a jolt, Flavio (who from Monday will be in the top 70 in the world) returns to the match by recovering one of the two breaks behind, but it’s not enough. Tiafoe no longer trembles on serve and wins the first set 6-4, before quickly dismissing the matter. Cobolli cancels 3 break points in the third game of the second set, but can do nothing in the following serve, when Tiafoe takes control and takes control of the match. In Delray Beach the crowd rejoices, but Flavio continues to show progress at the start of 2024.