Flavio Cobolli came back from two sets down as he completed a five set victory over Francisco Comesana at the US Open.
On a packed Louis Armstrong Stadium while the rain came down on the outside courts, drama was brewing on tennis’ most iconic stadium.
Fifth seed Flavio Cobolli was in a world of trouble as the Roland Garros finalist struggled in the early stages.
The Italian hit his ankle while hitting a forehand and had to deal with the pin-point accuracy of Comesana.
A 3-0 lead was established by Comesana but Cobolli did gradually find his way into the match and broke back in the fifth game with some consistent tennis.
However, Comesana was locked in and broke immediately back before taking the opening set 6-3 and the Argentinian didn’t stop there.
There was some aggressive forehands and some immaculate play at the net with Cobolli breaking in the third and seventh games with Cobolli looking dejected out on court.
A comfortable hold of serve saw Comesana take a two set lead and there was a long back for Cobolli.
But Cobolli was never going to give up easily as the Italian focused back on the job at hand in the third set as he saved two break points before breaking in the fourth game.
There was no giving up from Comesana who created five more break points but Cobolli held his nerve to take a long third set and start the comeback.
It was clear in the fourth set that Comesana was saving his energy for the fifth set especially after he was broken twice with Cobolli taking a 3-0 lead.
Despite breaking back in the sixth game, there was no way back for Comesana as Cobolli found his range with the forehand again and took the fourth set.
In the deciding set it was looking like Comesana was going to cause a big upset as the world number 119 broke for a 2-0 lead.
However, Cobolli was more locked in then he was at the start of the match and he broke immediately back.
The ending of the deciding set was getting tense but it was Cobolli who was more proactive on return and he broke for a 5-4 lead to serve for the match.
There would be one last string of attack for Comesana as he created two break back points but Cobolli produced some big serving in key moments.
On his first match point Cobolli closed out the contest to survive an extreme test and book his place in the second round.
After the match Cobolli praised the Louis Armstrong atmosphere which was electric for the closed roof match, “I want to say thanks to everybody with me on this incredible comeback that I did today,” Cobolli said to the ATP website.
“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.”
Cobolli will now face Nishesh Basavareddy or Tristan Schoolkate in the second round on Thursday.
The other winner of the day so far was Taylor Fritz after the ninth seed defeated compatriot Darwin Blanch 6-3 6-2 6-4 to reach the second round.
The 2024 finalist will face either Mattia Bellucci or Zsombor Piros in the second round.
