Anyone have a spare house? Cobolli into quarter-finals

Flavio Cobolli applauds the Wimbledon crowd after his win over Alex de MinaurImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Flavio Cobolli also reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2025

ByAmy Lofthouse
BBC Sport senior journalist at Wimbledon
  • Published

Flavio Cobolli's grandfather came to the rescue to find a house for the Italian to stay in after he beat Alex de Minaur to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals, extending his visit to south-west London.

Cobolli reached the French Open final in June and played just one singles match on grass in the build-up to Wimbledon, losing in straight sets to Frances Tiafoe.

However, the ninth seed produced an impressive performance to beat Australia's De Minaur 7-5 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 and reach the last eight for the second year in a row.

Asked what he would do to recover, Cobolli said: "Ice cream and today my dad cooks pasta with tomato and onion.

"It's the World Cup so I want to see Spain and Portugal. I hope I can go early to the house but first of all we have to find one.

"We have our luggage at the old house and now we have to find [a new] one.

"Maybe you guys have a house here in Wimbledon?"

Cobolli will play Arthur Fery after the British wildcard defeated former world number three Grigor Dimitrov in a thrilling five-set comeback victory.

In his news conference shortly afterwards, the 24-year-old said he had found somewhere to stay for the evening.

"My grandfather help us to found a solution for tonight. But we found solution for all the week, I hope," he said.

"An Italian family give us all the house here in Wimbledon, so it's really cool.

"I will say thanks to them when I see them."

The match on Court One was twice interrupted by medical incidents in the crowd as temperatures reached 31C on Monday.

Cobolli and De Minaur sat together in the shade and chatted to each other and the crowd during one break.

De Minaur had a 5-2 lead in the second set, only for Cobolli to wrestle back the advantage and ultimately take control.

The Australian has never gone beyond the quarter-finals of a major in seven appearances.

"It breaks me inside. That's the reality of it," De Minaur said.

"To not step up to the plate, it's truly gut wrenching.

"The goals, the beliefs, the dreams you have, they start fading away or they feel a little bit further away than when they once were."

Later, sixth seed Taylor Fritz continued his bid for a first Grand Slam title with a 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 6-4 win over 10th seed Alexander Bublik.

American Fritz could play French Open champion Alexander Zverev next, with Fritz having won their past seven meetings.

German second seed Zverev takes on Czech Jiri Lehecka in the final match on Centre Court.

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