Flavio Cobolli's China Open campaign ended in the first round, with the Italian fourth seed beaten 6-3, 6-2 by Roman Safiullin in 84 minutes at the ATP 500 event in Beijing. The Russian, ranked 84th in the world, produced one of the upsets of the opening day.
Cobolli, seventh in the rankings, arrived as the highest-seeded Italian left in the draw, with Jannik Sinner absent as he continues his comeback from a knee injury. But the Roman found an opponent in peak form: Safiullin, 29 and from Podolsk, reached the semi-finals in Hangzhou only days earlier and imposed aggressive, relentless tennis from the baseline.
Cobolli carved out three break points in the third game of the opening set, but Safiullin erased them all. In the next game the Russian saved three more chances for the Italian before breaking on his fourth opportunity to move 3-1 ahead. Safiullin took the first set 6-3, with Cobolli saving three set points at 2-5 along the way. After the restart the Russian accelerated again and closed out the second set 6-2, sealing a 6-3, 6-2 victory after one hour and 24 minutes on court.
