Forza Flavio! Cobolli Reaches DC Open Semifinals In His Washington Debut

Flavio Cobolli, Washington, DC Citi Open
Flavio Cobolli (photo: Ben Solomon/Mubadala Citi DC Open)

WASHINGTON, August 3, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

Italy’s Flavio Cobolli has been living on the edge the last couple of rounds in his Mubadala Citi DC Open debut. After the No. 10 seed defeated David Goffin of Belgium in his opening-round match, the 22-year-old from Florence was pushed hard by No. 8 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain on Thursday, saving five match points, to advance to his sixth and biggest quarterfinal of his young career.

Although Cobolli won the third-round match over the Spaniard, 1-6, 7-6 (0), 7-6 (7), he was on court for three hours and 14 minutes in near-100-degree Fahrenheit temperatures. As he hobbled back to the bench after shaking hands with Davidovich Fokina and acknowledging the crowd, Cobolli began cramping and required medical treatment for before leaving John Harris Court.

On Friday afternoon, the 48th-ranked Cobolli met No. 15 seed Alex Michelsen of the United States, who at age 19 was the youngest tournament quarterfinalist since Alex de Minaur in 2018. Cobolli grinded through another long, tough match on John Harris Court under near-identical conditions to Thursday. When it was over, he had secured a satisfying 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (2) victory to advance to Saturday’s semifinal round, just his second at tour-level. Better yet, he stood his ground.

Cobolli fired 17 aces, won 83 percent of his first-serve points and struck 41 winners. He was outpointed by Michelsen 109-105 but it didn’t matter in the end.

As Cobolli was interviewed on court by ATP Media, he gave props to the 60th-ranked Michelsen. “We did a great fight today,” he said, “We are young. We did the Next-Gen Finals together [last year], so we have a good relationship together. We are good friends. It’s good to share the court with him.”

On Saturday, Cobolli will share Stadium Court with World No. 14 Ben Shelton of the United States, who won by default over 139th-ranked wild card Denis Shapovalov of Canada to advance to his second ATP Tour 500 semifinal.

The No. 2 seed Shelton was serving for the match, ahead 7-6 (5), and leading triple-match-point at 6-3 in a second-set tie-break when the default occurred due to Shapovalov’s swearing at a fan plus unsportsmanlike conduct for throwing his racquet. Shelton never had a chance to serve out the victory.

Because Shapovalov was defaulted by chair umpire Greg Allensworth, he will lose all prize money ($53,420) and ATP ranking points (100) earned from the week in Washington, D.C.

Thus, Shelton maintained his perfect record in tour-level quarterfinals on American soil (4-0) and earned his 26th win of the season to equal a personal-best set last year.

Afterward, during his post-match news conference, Shelton was reluctant to discuss the matter of Shapovalov’s default. He did comment: “I don’t really have anything to say. It’s unfortunate that a high-level match like that, such a great match that was highly contested, just an all-out war, ended like that. You never want to see it.

“Yeah, past that, I don’t have anything to say.”

Badosa reaches first WTA semifinal in over a year

Former World No. 2 Paula Badosa has played spirited tennis all week long in Washington. The 62nd-ranked wild card from Spain rallied from a break down in the third set to beat Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, in a two-hour and 45-minute quarterfinal classic on Stadium Court Friday afternoon.

Badosa’s victory over the 89th-ranked Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, lifted her into her first semifinal of the season and the first at WTA 500-series level since early 2023 at Adelaide.

“She was playing amazing, honestly,” Badosa said after securing her 19th win of 2024. “She took me to the limit in all the phases – physically, mentally, tennis-wise. I knew I had to play very aggressive.”

Badosa hit 11 aces, won 78 percent of her first-serve points and converted four of eight break-point chances. She outpointed Raducanu 112-105.

Both Badosa and Raducanu, playing in their first tournament since Wimbledon, chose to bypass representing their respective nations at the Paris Olympic Games in order to get a head-start on preparing for the US Open, which begins three weeks from Monday. It’s certainly paid off for Badosa and Raducanu showed signs of her former self throughout the week.

In her post-match news conference, Badosa added: “Yeah, it was a really tough one. I was expecting already a battle. I know she’s playing very well. She’s been winning a lot of matches lately.

“Yeah, was a tough one especially under the heat. But, yeah, happy with the win.”

On Saturday, Badosa will play 49th-ranked Caroline Dolehide of the United States. In an all-American battle on Stadium Court to begin Friday, Dolehide came from 5-2 down in the first set to defeat 176th-ranked qualifier Amanda Anisimova, 7-6 (5), 6-1. The win advanced Dolehide to her first semifinal of the season.

Around the Mubadala Citi DC Open

• No. 4 seed Sebastian Korda of the United States rolled to a 6-4, 6-2 victory over No. 7 seed Jordan Thompson of Australia in an hour and 40 minutes on John Harris Court to advance to his second hard-court semifinal of the season after Adelaide last January.

In the second Washington quarterfinal for both players, Korda struck 10 aces and hit 20 overall winners. He saved the only break point he faced from Thompson, broke the Aussie three times in five opportunities and outpointed him 58-41.

The World No. 22 Korda, who will move back into the PIF ATP Top 20 next week, will face No. 4 seed Frances Tiafoe of the United States, ranked 29th, who took out top seed Andrey Rublev of Russia, 6-4, 7-6 (3), in an hour and 38 minutes on Stadium Court late Friday evening. It was Tiafoe’s first Top 10 win since 2022.

• Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic continued her run in Washington by reaching her 10th career Tour-level semifinal. The 43rd-ranked Bouzkova defeated 131st-ranked wild card and Washington, D.C. native Robin Montgomery, 6-3, 6-1, in 75 minutes on John Harris Court.

Bouzkova broke Montgomery’s serve five times and outpointed her 60-36 to advance against World No. 3 and top seed Aryna Sabalenka, who won Friday evening’s Belarusian showdown over No. 6 seed Victoria Azarenka, 6-4, 6-4, in an hour and 46 minutes, before a sold-out Stadium Court crowd.

Sabalenka won 82 percent of her second serve return points and converted four of nine break points. She outpointed Azarenka 76-67. It was her fifth career win over Azarenka in six meetings.

“Yeah, that was great match. She’s incredible player,” Sabalenka said in her post-match news conference, praising Azarenka. “Always tough battles against her. She always bring the best fight she can. I always enjoy playing against her. Just super happy to get through this tough match.”

• Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow, fresh off defending their Atlanta Open title, extended their winning streak to six matches on Friday by reaching the men’s doubles semifinals.

The No. 4 seeds defeated fifth seeds Lloyd Glasspool of Great Britain and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico, 6-4, 7-6 (6). They dropped just nine points on their service.

As they continue their pursuit of their biggest team title, Lammons and Withrow will play No. 2 seeds Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson of Australia. The other semifinal on Saturday will match No. 6 seeds Sadio Doumbia of France and Hugo Nys of Monaco against Rafael Matos and Marcelo Melo of Brazil.

• Unseeded Jiang Xinyu of China and Wu Fang-Hsien of Taiwan advanced to Saturday’s women’s doubles final. They defeated No. 4 seeds Miyu Kato of Japan and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia, 6-4, 7-6 (5). They will face No. 1 seeds Asia Muhammad and Taylor Townsend of the United States, who received a walkover into the title match over No. 3 seeds Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway and Ingrid Neel of Estonia due to a right wrist injury suffered by Neel.

Friday’s ATP results

Friday’s WTA results

Saturday’s order of play

By the numbers

Flavio Cobolli has become just the fourth Italian man to advance to the DC Open semifinals in the tournament’s 55-year history. The others: Corrado Barazzutti in 1980, Renzo Furlan in 1996, Jannik Sinner in 2021.

“Quotable …”

“Yeah, I’m happy. I think it usually just takes one, two, three matches to get rolling and feel confident in a season. Two out of my last three tournaments I’ve made it to the fourth round of the tournament, so to speak. The more matches that I’m able to string together, the better I play.

“I mean, I saw that at the end of the year last year. As soon as I started having tournaments, winning four, five, six matches in a row, then my best tennis started to come out.

“I’m happy with where I’m at right now but not satisfied. Hopefully I can keep it going this week and keep that momentum into the next four weeks, as well.”

No. 2 seed Ben Shelton of the United States, during his post-match news conference, on his eventful week at the DC Open.

 

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