By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, October 23, 2025Photo credit: Erste Bank Open Facebook
The first meeting between friends saw Flavio Cobolli match Jannik Sinner blow-by-blow in the second set.
Four points into the tiebreaker, Sinner unleashed a rocket running forehand down the line that left his compatriot sprawling on the blue court.
Sinner scored that second-set knockdown to beat Cobolli 6-2, 7-6(4) and charge into his 40th career hard-court quarterfinal in Vienna today.
The top-seeded Sinner extended his indoor hard-court winning streak to 18 matches registering his seventh straight Vienna victory.
The 2023 Vienna champion improved to 17-0 vs. Italian compatriots setting up a rematch against Alexander Bublik.
Feeling great in the last 8 😀@janniksin defeats Cobolli 6-2 7-6 to seal his spot in the quarterfinals in Vienna!#ErsteBankOpen pic.twitter.com/sFgLynv5Yv
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 23, 2025
Earlier, Bublik banged 11 aces and saved all six break points he faced dispatching Francisco Cerundolo 6-4, 6-2 in 65 minutes.
Last June, Bublik shocked Sinner 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on the grass of Halle en route to the Halle championship. Carlos Alcaraz and Bublik are the only men to defeat Sinner in completed matches this season. Tallon Griekspoor led the Italian in Shanghai this month when Sinner retired. Sinner is 5-2 lifetime vs. Bublik, including a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 annihilation at the US Open last month.
Facing Cobolli for the first time, Sinner made a strong start today.
On the strength of his second straight break, Sinner stretched his lead to 4-1 after 28 minutes of play.
On his fourth set point, Sinner drew a scattered forehand to seal the 45-minute opening set. Sinner 17 of 25 points played on serve and did not face a break point in the opening set.
Credit Cobolli for going to toe-to-toe with the world No. 2 throughout the second set.
Snap, Crackle & POP ⚡@janniksin with a crosscourt ripper!#ErsteBankOpen pic.twitter.com/WKZtepKHs3
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 23, 2025
Staring down triple break point in the 11th game, Cobolli cracked consecutive forehand winners down the line then lashed his third ace capping a hard-fought hold for 6-5.
Cobolli opened the tiebreaker with an ace before Sinner slashed that running forehand strike down the line for the mini break and a 3-1 lead.
When Cobolli double faulted, Sinner went up 5-3 then ended a crackling crosscourt rally drilling a diagonal backhand winner for 6-4.
On match point, Sinner bolted a body serve sealing a one hour, 47-minute win to improve to 45-6 on the season.
It was Italian day in Vienna today with five Italian men in action.
Starting the day’s play, Matteo Berrettini blasted 16 aces and saved four of five break points out-dueling Cameron Norrie 7-6(6), 6-7(9)6-4 in a three hour, 16-minute marathon match.
World No. 59 Berrettini beat Norrie for the third time in as many meetings to advance to his 37th Tour-level quarterfinal, including his fourth quarter in Vienna.
Former Wimbledon finalist Berrettini will face third-seeded Alex de Minaur for a semifinal spot.
US Open quarterfinalist de Minaur beat Austrian Filip Misolic 6-4, 6-4. Berrettini has beaten de Minaur in three of four prior meetings, including a 6-3, 7-6(7) victory in the Miami round of 16 in March.
In a rematch of Sunday’s Almaty final, Corentin Moutet gained a measure of revenge defeating Daniil Medvedev 7-6(3), 6-4 to join Carlos Alcaraz as the only men to post Top 20 wins on clay, grass, hard court and indoor surfaces this season.
The left-handed French shotmaker pulled out all of the stops, befuddling Medvedev with drop shots and winning one game with the underarm serve.
The 2022 Vienna champion Medvedev broke back to get back on serve at 4-5 in the second set. Then Moutet sent Medvedev packing in a maddening shot-making display.
First Moutet spun a forehand into the top of the tape that crawled over for love-30, then the Frenchman fired a forehand pass down the line for triple match point. It ended on a Medvedev error as the lanky Russian, apparently still stewing over chair umpire Fergus Murphy’s time violation warning in the tiebreaker, declined to shake the veteran chair umpire’s hand in the post-match.
World No. 36 Moutet will meet either fourth-seeded Lorenzo Musetti or Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the quarterfinals.
The 2021 Vienna champion Alexander Zverev topped Matteo Arnaldi 6-4, 6-4 to power into his fifth Vienna quarterfinal in as many appearances.
It is the 50th win of the season for Zverev—the sixth time he’s won 50 matches in a season—as he joins Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur as the fourth man to register 50 wins in 2025.
The second-seeded Zverev will play Tallon Griekspoor for a semifinal spot. Zverev is 8-2 lifetime vs. the 28th-ranked Griekspoor.
