From MP saves to final: Korda, Cobolli set Washington title match

pAfter saving a combined seven match points earlier this week at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/washington/418/overview'Mubadala Citi DC Open/a, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/sebastian-korda/k0ah/overview'Sebastian Korda/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/flavio-cobolli/c0e9/overview'Flavio Cobolli/a advanced to the final at the Washington ATP 500. After rain delayed the start of both Saturday evening semi-finals, Korda knocked off a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/frances-tiafoe/td51/overview'Frances Tiafoe/a 6-4, 6-4 on the stadium court and Cobolli beat a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/ben-shelton/s0s1/overview'Ben Shelton/a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 on the grandstand./p

pKorda, who saved two match points against a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/thanasi-kokkinakis/kd46/overview'Thanasi Kokkinakis/a in the third round, is bidding to match father a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/petr-korda/k148/overview'Petr Korda/a (1992) by winning the Washington title. He will play for his second tour-level crown in his seventh final./p

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pIn an all-American semi-final, henbsp;fired 12 aces and saved the lone break point against him, according to Infosys ATP Stats. He hit 25 winners and made just five unforced errors in a clean performance against local favourite Tiafoe./p

p"It was pretty good today. Frances plays some of his best tennis here. I just tried to take care of my side of the court," said Korda. "I think I played really well today and I served really well, so that was probably the key for today."/p

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Who is taking the title in Washington? ????a href="https://twitter.com/mubadalacitidc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@mubadalacitidc/a | a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MubadalaCitiDCOpen?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#MubadalaCitiDCOpen/a a href="https://t.co/g2OFFnOXCf"pic.twitter.com/g2OFFnOXCf/a/p

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pAfter beating Italy's Cobolli in the pair's first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting earlier this season in Rome, the American will hope to repeat that result on his own home soil./p

p"We've never played each other on a hard court, but we played on clay in Rome, and it's very tricky to play against him there," he said. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully a good crowd and some support for me, and we'll see what happens."/p

pCobolli used his biggest career win by PIF ATP Ranking to advance to his first tour-level final, knocking out World No. 14 Shelton. The 22-year-old saved five match points against a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alejandro-davidovich-fokina/dh50/overview'Alejandro Davidovich Fokina/a in the second round and notched his third consecutive three-set win on Saturday night./p

p"I'm shaking, I'm so happy," an emotional Cobolli said post-match. "I can't describe my emotions right now. I'm so proud of myself. It's my first final... I really enjoyed the match today. This week is unbelievable. I think it's my week. Every day I woke up and I just want to play my tennis. This is maybe the reason that I'm here."/p

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pThe Italian, who competed in the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/next-gen-atp-finals/7696/overview'Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF/a last November, is up 15 places to No. 33 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings this week, setting himself up for a career high. Korda is also set for a new career high after rising three places to No. 19 this week in the PIF ATP Live Rankings./p

p[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p