Like in Munich?

Cobolli calmed Zverev down just a few days ago in Munich, on the German’s home turf!

I think for this exact reason Zverev will be particularly motivated and ready to get his revenge after the affront he suffered. Not a single ace in that last match, which is quite telling of Cobolli’s return quality; the Italian can play at a level close to the top 10 when he’s mentally present and his game is clicking. And actually, it’s already been a few weeks that he seems very focused and monstrous, Zverev is wary of him. The German was reassuring after his comments in the previous round, he beat Mensik but without being brilliant – his serve is still great but his return game not so much. Madrid is kind of home for him too and I think his serve will be more lethal tomorrow, but watch out because in open play Cobol can go toe to toe with him as well.

The Italian beat Medvedev in three sets, but a win in two sets would have made sense too, he was making fewer errors and attacking harder, he was just doing everything better, it’s that simple. Even his last games, when he was starting to get dominated, were monstrous: he took back the lead and went out to grab the match. Now he’s totally confident and still motivated/ready enough to go and get a semi-final spot? I’m still a bit worried physically/mentally because he’s put in a huge amount of effort recently and he ‘celebrated’ his win with a beer, nothing crazy but it reminds me a bit of Fils in Miami after his win over Paul, where afterwards he was just done and not really into it anymore in the end. Cobo mentally can completely fall apart...