Confident Jannik Sinner marches into Vienna quarterfinals in straight sets win over Cobolli

Jannik Sinner secured a straightforward victory in the Round of 16 of the Vienna Open against his compatriot Flavio Cobolli (No. 22) 6-2, 7-6(4) in a match that became more complicated than expected in the second set. The 4-time Major champion had a tranquil start, but Cobolli managed to pose more than one problem in the second set.

However, it was not enough to overcome Sinner, and the World No. 2 ended up taking the victory in straight sets. After a dominant first set, Sinner failed to convert his break opportunities in the second set and ended up deciding everything in a tight tie-break. Cobolli recovered from a mini-break disadvantage, but it was not enough to scare Sinner, who finished the victory without major setbacks.

The 2023 Vienna champion advances to the quarter-finals and has reached 45 wins for the season. Sinner will face Alexander Bublik in his next challenge, in their fourth encounter of the season. The Italian secured easy victories at Roland Garros and the US Open, while the Kazakh surprised Sinner at the Halle Open during the grass-court swing.

It seemed like an easy day for Sinner, who, after squandering a break point in the first game of the match, quickly took control of the game. Based on service effectiveness and good return games, he managed to string together up to 5 consecutive games—after securing two breaks in the third and fifth games. Cobolli managed to react with his serve to reduce the differences, but Sinner did not hesitate to close the set with his serve 6-2.

The former No. 1 did not face any break points in the set and took 68% of his service points, much higher than Cobolli's 50% service points won.

With the advantage on Sinner's side, the second set started well for Cobolli on his serve, where he managed to string together up to 10 consecutive service points before Sinner began to find solutions on the return. This led the 4-time Major champion to create some break opportunities in the set, but he failed to convert them. At 5-5, Cobolli overcame a 0-40 deficit, and everything ended up being defined in the tie-break.

True to his style, Sinner kept a cool head at the moment of definition, took an early lead, and maintained a good run of points, winning 5 of the last 6 points disputed to take the victory 6-2, 7-6 after a tight second set.

Jannik Sinner recently generated criticism in Italy due to his decision not to participate in the 2025 Davis Cup Finals. The World No. 2 was the team leader in the titles achieved in 2023 and 2024, but this time he chose to skip the tournament to focus on his preparation for the next season.

The 4-time Grand Slam champion was not present in the Italian team roster, which is composed of Lorenzo Musetti, Matteo Berrettini, Flavio Cobolli, Andrea Vavassori, and Simone Bolelli. “I’m a two-time Davis Cup winner. My team and I made this decision because the season is very long at the end of the year and I need an extra week of rest to start my preparation earlier,” stated Sinner from Vienna. “The goal is to get off to a good start in Australia. In the last two years, I haven’t reached my best level because I lacked time, that’s why we made this decision. We’ll see.”

Unlike his colleagues, Alcaraz in Spain and Zverev in Germany, Sinner chose to skip the tournament this time, which did not sit well in Italy, where he even received criticism from legendary 2-time Roland Garros champion Nicola Pietrangeli: “It’s a real slap in the face for Italian sport,” “I don’t understand when he says it was a difficult choice. We’re talking about playing tennis, not going to war. When it comes to the Davis Cup, it’s the pinnacle; the goal of every athlete is to wear the blue jersey.”