By Shrivathsa Sridhar
LONDON, July 6 (Reuters) – Flavio Cobolli continued the best Grand Slam run of his career on Monday by defeating Australian fifth seed Alex de Minaur 7-5 7-6(4) 6-3 and returning to the Wimbledon quarter-finals just weeks after his French Open runner-up finish.
The ninth seed’s battling display on Court One put him in the Wimbledon quarter-finals for a second straight year, and he will have a good chance to continue his surge with a wildcard looming in the next round.
Cobolli will play the winner of the fourth-round encounter between British hopeful Arthur Fery and Bulgarian veteran Grigor Dimitrov, both of whom have made hay in the sunshine at the All England Club in the past week.
“I’ve been feeling tired on the tour, so I’m very happy to reach the quarter-finals in three sets, because it’s important to stay with energy for the next round,” Cobolli said.
“This year has been so hot, we saw in the crowd (people struggling). Thanks for coming today. Thanks for staying. I appreciate it a lot. I’m so happy and proud of myself.”
The 24-year-old Italian took charge of the first meeting between top-10 players in the men’s draw this year by forcing a backhand error to break in the 11th game of the opening set, which he pocketed in 50 minutes.
STOPPAGES IN PLAY AS FANS STRUGGLE IN HEAT
A relaxed Cobolli chatted with fans during a break in play when a spectator fell ill in the second set and with De Minaur during another halt, before he reeled off three games in a row from 2-5 down to double his advantage via a tiebreak.
“There’s a lot of respect (between us). I love him, I love how he plays,” said Cobolli.
“I don’t love to play with him. But we had a little chat during the break, and he told me I have to expect another thing like that happened there because it’s really hot. We’re lucky to finish with only two stoppages.”
The big hitting that helped Cobolli navigate tense moments at the end of the second set helped him claw back from 0-2 in the next set and recover another break in the sixth game to finally see off his determined opponent.
Asked if he planned to watch the encounter between Fery and Dimitrov, Cobolli said he would beat the heat with ice cream and look forward to a meal cooked by his father instead.
“I won’t watch it for sure. Like you every day, ice cream, and my dad will cook pasta with tomato and onion. I don’t know, maybe we’ll hit here. There’s a workout. I want to watch Spain and Portugal (in the World Cup).”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in London; Editing by Alison Williams)
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