Cobolli fights back past Jodar to reach maiden hard-court Masters quarter-final

Flavio Cobolli rediscovered his fight at the perfect time, rallying from a set down to beat teenager Rafael Jodar 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3 and reach his first hard-court Masters 1000 quarter-final in Cincinnati.

19 August 2026

During the 2026 Cincinnati Open at Lindner Family Tennis Center on Aug. 19, 2026 in Cincinnati, Ohio | © Tom Brenner /Wick Photography for Cincinnati Open

Tennis Majors

Cincinnati Open •Round of 16 • Completed

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R. JodarvsF. Cobolli

Flavio Cobolli produced exactly the kind of resilient performance that has been missing from his recent weeks, rallying from a set down to beat fellow young gun Rafael Jodar 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3 on Wednesday evening and reach the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Open.

Cobolli will face the winner of the meeting between top seed Alexander Zverev and No 18 seed Tommy Paul.

It is a milestone for the Italian: his first quarter-final in Cincinnati, and his first Masters 1000 last eight on a hard court (his second at this level overall). The turning point came in the second-set tiebreak, where the No 7 seed finally locked in, taking it 7-3 and never looking back as he pulled clear in the decider. It was his 30th win of 2026, and he now chases a first Masters 1000 semi-final.

The victory is all the sweeter given how Cobolli’s season has swung between extremes. A Roland-Garros finalist earlier this year, the world No 10 has also been prone to jarring early exits – he was the first seed out in Montreal just days ago, beaten in his opening match. This, then, was the flip side of that inconsistency: a gritty, three-set grind against one of the summer’s breakout names, exactly when his big-event pedigree was being questioned.

For Jodar, the defeat ends another eye-catching run. The 19-year-old Spaniard, who had impressed all summer, beat Alejandro Tabilo and edged Denis Shapovalov here.