Flavio Cobolli has enjoyed a remarkable year, but he had to survive a five-set thriller to extend his Grand Slam season.
Argentina’s Francisco Comesana raced to a stunning two-set lead over Cobolli before the fifth-seeded Italian rallied to win 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 at Louis Armstrong Stadium on Tuesday in New York.
Cobolli, 24, lost his serve four times in the first two sets and struggled throughout the day, only getting 54% of his first serves in play. He staved off all of Comesana’s eight break points in the third set and raced to a 4-0 lead in the fourth to set up a decider.
The Argentine jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the fifth set, but Cobolli broke back at love and the set went to 4-all. In the ninth game, Cobolli found another break and hit a mid-court forehand volley to prevail in four hours, 13 minutes.
“I want to say thanks to everybody with me on this incredible comeback that I did today,” said Cobolli, who has seen his ranking move up from No. 22 to No. 6 since the beginning of the season. “After two sets down I went to the toilets and I changed everything. It’s never done, you have to fight until the last point. I have a very incredible team that helped me a lot today, and maybe is the key to looking forward to the next round also.”
One player the French Open finalist will be grateful not to see on the line opposite him is Arthur Fery.
Fery has taken out Cobolli in two of three previous Grand Slams in 2026, first in Melbourne in January and then on Fery’s London stomping grounds earlier this summer. The loss to the unseeded Fery at Wimbledon occurred in the quarterfinals, depriving Cobolli of a run to another final.
Cobolli and Fery won’t get one more Grand Slam encounter this year, as a different Italian, No. 13 seed Lorenzo Musetti, ousted Fery 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 on Tuesday.
The other seeded players competing in the afternoon session also prevailed in straight sets. In an all-American matchup, ninth-seeded Taylor Fritz defeated 18-year-old wild card Darwin Blanch 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, and No. 24 Argentine Francisco Cerundolo eliminated Austrian Filip Misolic 6-4, 6-3, 7-5.
Fritz, who reached the final two years ago, broke a two-match losing streak at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The Californian’s serve was brilliant, as he smashed 14 aces, double-faulted once and put 74% of his first serves on target. Despite the win, Fritz was not entirely comfortable in his first-round match.
“It’s never easy to come out and play a young American,” said Fritz.
Fritz will take on Italian Mattia Bellucci in the second round. Bellucci beat Zsombor Piros of Hungary 6-4, 6-2, 6-0.
No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany will kick off his tournament in the night session against Italian Lorenzo Sonego. Australian No. 6 seed Alex De Minaur is slated to face another Italian, Andrea Guerrieri.
–Field Level Media
