Acapulco
Cobolli beats Tiafoe for Acapulco crown, joins Alcaraz & Sinner on this feat…
Italian set for a brand new profession excessive in Monday’s PIF ATP Rankings
March 01, 2026
Manuel Velasquez/Getty Photographs
Flavio Cobolli defeats Frances Tiafoe 7-6(4), 6-4 within the Acapulco closing.
By ATP Workers
Flavio Cobolli captured his first hard-court ATP Tour title and third general Saturday on the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC. Seeded fifth in Acapulco, the Italian produced a excessive stage to down Frances Tiafoe 7-6(4), 6-4 within the championship match.
Cobolli pummelled his forehand with pinpoint accuracy and displayed his shotmaking capability all through the conflict. Due to his title run, Cobolli will rise to a career-high No. 15 in Monday’s PIF ATP Rankings.
“Once I was a child, I used to be dreaming for this second,” stated Cobolli. “For this type of event, taking part in on the middle courtroom with individuals cheering for me. I’m very proud, not just for me, but in addition for the folks that work for me — my dad, my household, the remainder of my crew. They may assist me lots.”
The 23-year-old is the fourth man born within the 2000s to win ATP 500 titles on a number of surfaces, becoming a member of Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Arthur Fils.
Regardless of coming into the ultimate winless towards Tiafoe of their earlier two Lexus ATP Head2Head conferences, Cobolli confirmed no indicators of hesitation. Shortly after letting slip a set level on return at 5-4 within the opener, he trailed 1/3 within the tie-break, however gained six of the ultimate seven factors to achieve a one-set benefit.
Tiafoe didn’t earn a break likelihood till the eighth recreation of the second set, changing his third alternative to that recreation to stage the rating at 4-4. It provided a glimpse of hope for Tiafoe, who earned a number of wins in dramatic trend this week, saving two match factors to beat in Aleksandar Kovacevic within the second spherical. Tiafoe additionally wanted a heroic effort within the semi-finals to beat Brandon Nakashima, who served for a straight-sets win earlier than the eighth seed launched his comeback.
Such theatrics have been to not be within the closing. Cobolli held his nerve after dropping serve, incomes a break again and efficiently serving out the match after two hours and 9 minutes.
“I believe I deserve it for the way I work exterior the courtroom,” Cobolli stated. “After the losses, I work once more on courtroom and I simply wish to say that I’m very happy with myself. It was an incredible match right this moment, I believe it was the most effective of the event for me. I by no means gained towards [Frances] earlier than right this moment, so I’m very completely happy.”
Final yr, Cobolli gained the ATP 250 occasion in Bucharest and the ATP 500 event in Hamburg. He’s the youngest Acapulco champion since a 22-year-old Dominic Thiem in 2016.
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