It isn’t very often that a player uses chocolate to help them stage a comeback but this is exactly what Flavio Cobolli did during his quarter-final match at the Cincinnati Masters.
The Italian lost the opening set before fighting his way to a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Tommy Paul, who stunned top seed Alexander Zverev in the previous round. It is a significant win for Cobolli, who is through to the last four of a Masters event for the first time and will now rise to a career-high of sixth in the PIF ATP rankings. He is also only the second man from his country to reach the semi-finals in Cincinnati after Jannik Sinner.
“Another third set, another fight. I always like to fight and have a third set match,” Cobolli told The Tennis Channel afterwards.
“Today (Thursday) is my fourth (third set match) in the tournament. So I feel a little bit tired, but still very, very happy.”
Coming into his clash with Paul, Cobolli had already ousted Miomir Kecmanovic, Alexander Blockx and Rafael Jodar in three sets, with each match lasting two hours or longer. Undoubtedly feeling fatigued from those matches, Cobolli requested some M&M’s to be given to him for a sugar boost when playing Paul. Later clarifying that he would eat four of them during each changeover.
“I ate my M&M’s and chocolate helped me a lot,” he said.
When asked if he ate a certain colour, Cobolli replied, ‘No, it doesn’t matter. I love M&M’s.’
On the court, Cobolli is preparing for a semi-final clash against Arthur Fils. The Frenchman has already beaten two top 10 seeds in the tournament, upsetting Jiri Lehecka in the second round and Alex de Minaur in the fourth. In his latest match, he dismissed Argentina’s Thiago Agustín Tirante 6-3, 6-2.
“I know that I have to cool down, and I have to do everything that I need to recharge my body,” said Cobolli.
“I’m really happy that tomorrow (Friday) I have the day off. So I have time to recharge and I have time to get ready for the next one (match).”
Cobolli is yet to beat Fils on the Tour. He has suffered straight-sets losses to him at the 2023 Next Gen Finals and the 2025 Monte Carlo Masters.
