HAMBURG, Germany — Italy’s Flavio Cobolli received the largest title of his profession when he upset third seed Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-4 to win the Hamburg Open on Saturday.
Ranked No. 35 on the earth, Cobolli had just one ATP 250 title to his identify, having received the Romanian Open final month, however the 23-year-old now has two clay-court titles after beating Rublev within the closing of the ATP 500 occasion.
He’s simply the third participant to win a number of titles on the ATP Tour this yr, together with Carlos Alcaraz (3) and Felix Auger-Aliassime (2), whereas the victory will see him rise to a career-high twenty sixth within the rankings.
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“I feel it’s the greatest second and match of my life for positive. I’ve to apologize to Andrey as a result of at the moment I performed unbelievable. I’m so glad and happy with myself,” Cobolli stated. “I can see my household, associates, brother and girlfriend right here, and it’s a shock. I’m actually glad. I handed many battles this yr, and this sort of day is nice on your thoughts. I’m so glad. I simply need to [lift] the trophy.”
After Cobolli convincingly took the opening set, Rublev went 3-2 up within the second, however the momentum shifted after a 31-shot rally the place the Russian tried to make Cobolli run for many factors.
Cobolli turned the tables when he fired a scorching forehand winner to get the purpose, and because the Italian put his hand to his ear to get the group roaring, a spent Rublev bent over in exhaustion.
Rublev by no means recovered, and though he had seven break factors within the contest, Cobolli saved six of them.
The Italian transformed all 4 of his break-point possibilities to wrap up the match in 1 hour, 28 minutes.
He could have no time to relaxation, nevertheless, as he seems to be forward to a match in opposition to previous Grand Slam champion Marin Cilic within the first spherical of the French Open, which begins Sunday.
