By Martyn Herman
LONDON, July 6 (Reuters) – Italy’s Flavio Cobolli will need to start booking his accommodation for longer at Grand Slams if his current rate of progress continues after admitting his win over Alex de Minaur on Monday left him temporarily homeless.
The 24-year-old turned what was expected to be a closely fought battle into a one-sided romp as he outclassed the Australian fifth seed 7-5 7-6(4) 6-3 on a blazing Court One to set up a clash with British wildcard Arthur Fery.
It is the second year running Cobolli has impressed at Wimbledon after reaching his first Grand Slam quarter-final last year, so it was surprising to learn his accommodation had not been booked for the duration of the Championships.
Asked immediately after his match what he was going to do to celebrate his victory, soccer-mad 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?”
Luckily for the 24-year-old world number 10, his grandfather has come to the rescue.
“Yeah, we found. Already found,” he told reporters later. “My grandfather helped us to find a solution for tonight. But I hope we’ve found a solution for all the week.
“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.”
(Reporting by Martyn Herman;Editing by Alison Williams)
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