Flavio Cobolli came back from one set down to beat three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 on his debut at the Shanghai Masters 1000 tournament in their first head-to-head match.
Cobolli, who has reached his career-high of world number 30, has improved his record to 34 wins to 25 wins. The Italian player has also achieved a tour-leading 18th deciding set win this season.
Cobolli set up a match against former world number 1 and four-time Shanghai Masters 1000 champion Novak Djokovic.
The first set went on serve until the 12th game. Wawrinka hit nine aces and dropped just seven points on serve in the opening set. The Swiss player held his serve at deuce in the 11th game. Cobolli went up a 2-0 lead in the tie-break. Wawrinka pulled back on serve to draw level to 4-4. Cobolli earned two set points at 6-4, but Wawrinka won the final four points to win the tie-break 8-6.
Cobolli went down 0-30 at 2-3 on serve in the second set. Wawrinka faced three break points at 5-5 0-40 to hold serve at deuce for 6-5. Cobolli raced out to a 4-0 lead. Wawrinka pulled one mini-break back, but Cobolli held on his serve and closed out the tie-break on his first set point. Wawrinka earned three break points at 2-4 but Cobolli saved them with an inside-out forehand and a volley before serving out the win on his first match point.
“Djokovic is my idol. It’s going to be an exciting match. Wawrinka is a legend of tennis”, said Cobolli.