Flavio Cobolli, one of tennis’ most exciting prospects, reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final with a hard-fought victory over veteran Marin Cilic at Wimbledon.
In his most difficult challenge of this year’s tournament, Cobolli was pushed hard in a 6-4 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-3) win to set up a potential meeting with his idol Novak Djokovic.
The Italian 22nd seed has impressed with his shot variety and entertaining style during his SW19 run.
The 23-year-old was composed against Cilic, a former Wimbledon finalist and the 2014 US Open champion, but dropped his first set of the competition in an absorbing encounter.
After a breakthrough 2024, when he rose from outside the world’s top 100 to the top 30, Cobolli is now enjoying his best Grand Slam performance, having previously never gone beyond the third round.
His victory kicks off what could be a historic day for Italy, with Cobolli, Lorenzo Sonego and Jannik Sinner all featuring in the last 16.
Should they all win, it would be the first time three Italian men have reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam.
Sonego faces American 10th seed Ben Shelton while Sinner takes on Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov later on Monday.