Cobolli Beats Auger-Aliassime to Reach French Open Semifinals

Tenth-seeded Flavio Cobolli defeated fourth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the French Open men's quarterfinals on Wednesday. Cobolli will face fellow Italian Matteo Arnaldi on Friday for a place in the final. Arnaldi advanced when Matteo Berrettini retired with a left hip injury while leading 7-5, 5-2.

The match took place on a windy day inside Court Philippe Chatrier.

Auger-Aliassime won the opening set after an overhead error on the first point and a stadium speaker interruption during the third set. Cobolli left the court after the first set to regain composure. He said he went to the toilet to think and told himself to fight because it was the chance of his life.

Cobolli said after the match that Italian tennis should be happy with the result. This marks the first all-Italian men's semifinal in Grand Slam history. Cobolli, 24, has dropped just two sets in five matches. He will enter the top 10 rankings next week regardless of the semifinal outcome.

Cobolli comes from the same Rome tennis club as 1976 French Open champion Adriano Panatta. He has followed the same post-match routine all week, including using the locker room shower once used by Rafael Nadal.