Flavio Cobolli showed plenty of character to snap an eight-match tour-level losing streak on Wednesday at the Tiriac Open presented by UniCredit Bank.
The No. 45 in the PIF ATP Rankings let slip a break lead in all three sets before prevailing 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 against Richard Gasquet at the clay-court ATP 250 in Bucharest. Cobolli began his 2025 season with victories against Dominic Stricker and Top 20 star Ugo Humbert at the United Cup in late December, but had won just one ATP Challenger Tour match since then until his one-hour, 55-minute opening-round defeat of Gasquet.
“I want to say thanks to the crowd, because I felt like I was at home,” said the 22-year-old. “I heard so many Italians here, and maybe some Romanians too. It’s always a pleasure to play with an amazing player like Richard and I’m really happy to reach my first win of the [calendar] year, finally.
“When I play a tournament, my goal is to win the tournament, so I’m here to play my best game. I am focused to play match by match. I am happy now for the win, but I’m not happy because I want to win more.”
Into the next round 💪@cobollifla takes out Gasquet 6-4 4-6 6-1 to advance in Bucharest!#TiriacOpen pic.twitter.com/11EIm9MKCR
— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 2, 2025
Cobolli converted six of 13 break points he earned against Gasquet, according to Infosys ATP Stats. He will hope to carry that form on return into his eighth ATP Tour quarter-final, in which he will take on Filip Misolic. The Austrian qualifier earlier upset eighth seed Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-3, 6-1 in the Romanian capital.
Francisco Comesana was another second-round winner on Wednesday in Bucharest, where the Argentine downed fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the pair’s maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting. Meanwhile Comesana’s countryman and top seed Sebastian Baez will have to return to court Thursday to try and seal his quarter-final spot: Baez was level at 7-6(5), 2-6 with Gabriel Diallo when play was cancelled for the day due to rain.
