Cobolli And Arnaldi In The Semifinals: The First Italian Slam Derby Of The Open Era

Flavio Cobolli beat Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 at Roland Garros, reaching the first Slam semifinal of his career. Shortly after, on the same Centre Court, Matteo Arnaldi advanced through the retirement of Matteo Berrettini, who stopped at 5-7, 2-5 with a hip problem. For the first time in the Open Era two Italians will face each other in a Grand Slam semifinal.

An Italian had not gone this deep in a Slam since 1976, the year Adriano Panatta triumphed in Paris by beating the American Harold Solomon in the final. Since then, Italian tennis had never carried two of its players this far in the same draw, and never two into the same semifinal: this time a spot in the final is guaranteed to an Italian regardless.

Cobolli, the number ten seed, turned the match around after losing the first set, and with this result he also makes his debut in the top ten. Arnaldi, ranked 104 in the world, is living a more winding adventure: having reached the quarterfinals after weeks of battles on clay, he took on the retirement of an emotional Berrettini, who left the court to the applause of the Chatrier.

What remains is the feeling of a movement that has changed scale. For years there has been talk of a deep Italian generation, and this semifinal, built away from the spotlight pointed elsewhere, is its most concrete proof: in Paris an Italian will reach the final, and it will be these two who decide it.