As the 2024 Australian Open intensifies, the race to dethrone Novak Djokovic from the top is on. One of the latest schedules in that race is of local boy Alex de Minaur and Italian Flavio Cobolli. de Minaur and Cobolli will play their third-round match at the John Cain Arena in Melbourne on Friday, 19th January.
de Minaur had a remarkable outing in the tournament so far. He won both his matches convincingly. When he faced Milos Raonic of Canada in the First Round, the score was 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 2-0 before de Minaur got a walkover. What was shaping to be a tough battle ended abruptly due to Raonic’s injury. He had a hip flexor issue that worsened and affected his movement.
After that, de Minaur had no trouble defeating Matteo Arnaldi in straight sets to advance to the Third Round. He beat the Italian 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 in a dominating fashion.
Cobolli, on the other hand, had a theatrical outing in the First Round of the Majors. It was a see-saw battle between him and Nicolas Jarry Fillol of Chile. Each set was won alternately between both players, with Cobolli having the last laugh. The score was 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5. Cobolli then faced Pavel Kotov of Russia and had a slightly improved outing, winning the match in four sets. He beat Kotov by 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.
Whoever wins, although it’s very likely to be de Minaur, will most probably play Alexander Rublev next. Rublev, who is currently ranked 5 in the world, had a tough battle with Thiago Seyboth Wild before winning it comfortably against Christopher Eubanks. Set to face Sebastian Korda, who John McEnroe believed was one of the players with the potential to win the title, Rublev is more likely to end the American’s run in this tournament. The two times they faced each other, Rublev wo both times.
How do de Minaur and Cobolli match up against each other?
As both de Minaur and Cobolli stand against one another now, de Minaur has a huge advantage that starts with his ranking. Currently ranked 10, it would be a huge upset if Cobolli beats de Minaur, given that his ATP World Ranking is 100. However, upsets do happen, and rankings won’t matter much since both these players will be facing each other for the first time in their careers on Friday. This is also Cobolli’s first ever Majors.
Known for his speed and agility, the Australian ‘Speed Demon’ will be aggressive from the very start. Extremely efficient on the serve, de Minaur will look to build an advantage very early on in the game. In the last 10 years, he won 63% of his matches.
Cobolli, in comparison, has a 42.1% win record in the ATP Tour and Grand Slam main draw events. His best result so far is reaching the Third Round of the Majors this year. However, the young Italian has age by his side as he is only 21. Due to that, his agility can counter de Minaur’s fierce aggression perfectly, making for a fantastic contest.
