In a hard-fought quarterfinal match, Hong Kong’s top player was bested by the Italian 7-5, 6-7 (7), 6-2 despite serving up 15 aces, leaving Cobolli to face Sebastian Korda of the United States who had beaten second-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Fifth-seeded Tommy Paul prevailed in a rematch of the 2024 final, beating top-seeded Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-3 in an all-US quarterfinal.
Paul next faces Learner Tien after the fourth seed won another all-US clash 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-5 against eighth-seeded Frances Tiafoe.
In the Qatar Open, top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz remained undefeated for the season, advancing to the final with a 7-6 (3), 6-4 win over defending champion Andrey Rublev on Friday in Doha.
Alcaraz, a 22-year-old Spaniard who completed the career Grand Slam three weeks ago at the Australian Open, improved to 11-0 this year.
Getting past the fifth-seeded Russian was no easy task for Alcaraz, though. Rublev twice got breaks when Alcaraz was serving for the first set, and then Alcaraz needed six match points spread across two games to seal the match.
Awaiting Alcaraz in the final is France’s Arthur Fils, who defeated sixth- seeded Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic 6-4, 7-6 (4) on Friday. Fils is through to his first tour-level final since winning the title at Tokyo in 2024. (Reuters)
Edited by Robert Kemp
