Cobolli halts skid on Almaty debut

In the brisk confines of Almaty‘s indoor arena, third seed Flavio Cobolli steadied his season with a disciplined 6-4, 7-5 win over Rinky Hijikata, snapping a two-match losing streak that had shadowed his strong fall campaign. The Italian’s groundstrokes hummed with purpose, blending depth and angles to control rallies on the quick hard courts, while the crowd’s murmurs built with each held service game. This debut victory at the Almaty Open carried the weight of renewal, propelling him toward a potential top-20 return if he navigates the draw’s tightening path.

Cobolli rebuilds momentum post-slumps

Just after toppling Andrey Rublev in Beijing, Cobolli stumbled against Learner Tien at an ATP 500 event and then Jaume Munar in Shanghai, where lapses in serve placement and return aggression exposed cracks under pressure. He countered those flaws here by firing 21 winners against only seven unforced errors in 79 minutes, varying crosscourt forehands with inside-out backhands to disrupt Hijikata’s rhythm and force defensive lobs. At 23 and ranked No. 22 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, this performance echoed the consistency that fueled his Hamburg and Bucharest titles, hinting at a tactical evolution suited to the surface’s pace as he eyes deeper runs.

Hijikata pushed back with aggressive returns early, but Cobolli’s low slice backhands neutralized net rushes, sealing the match with a down-the-line forehand that drew appreciative nods from the stands. The win not only restores confidence but positions him against James Duckworth in the quarterfinals, where endurance in extended points could tip the scales on these predictable bounces.

Duckworth upends seed in serving clinic

Australian qualifier James Duckworth delivered the day’s jolt by dismissing seventh seed and last year’s finalist Gabriel Diallo 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 6-4, holding serve flawlessly without facing a single break point, as ATP Stats confirm. Ranked No. 138, he mixed slice serves wide with kick serves to the body, turning Diallo’s power baseline game into a scramble and extending rallies until errors mounted under the arena’s steady hum. This upset, his biggest of the season, infuses the quarterfinal with underdog fire, testing Cobolli’s return depth against Duckworth’s unyielding hold-for-hold tenacity.

Earlier, Shintaro Mochizuki grinded out a 6-4, 6-4 verdict over Arthur Cazaux for his third tour-level win this year, climbing three spots to No. 99 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings while chasing a top-100 breakthrough. His steady baseline pressure and occasional net forays wore down the Frenchman, setting up a clash with fourth seed Luciano Darderi, whose topspin-heavy one–two patterns will demand Mochizuki’s crisp footwork to counter on the hard courts.

Streaks shatter in baseline battles

Alex Michelsen ended a five-match drought since Cincinnati in August, dominating Beibit Zhukayev 6-2, 6-3 with flat inside-in forehands that exploited the local’s tentative setup, rediscovering the aggression that defined his summer surge. The American’s quick points under the lights sparked visible relief, signaling a possible late-season pivot as the draw compresses. Jan-Lennard Struff, meanwhile, rallied from a set deficit to clip Mackenzie McDonald 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, unleashing 25 winners including potent serve-volley combinations to solidify his 2-0 head-to-head edge.

Struff’s comeback, fueled by booming serves that echoed through the venue, lines him up against top seed and defending champion Karen Khachanov, a heavyweight encounter where big-hitting could unravel if returns find their mark. As Almaty’s quarterfinals loom, these resets amid the indoor intensity promise tactical chess matches, with players like Cobolli leveraging hard-won poise to chase the title’s rankings boost.