Fearnley shrugs off painful fall in impressive Cobolli win

As he impressively defeated Italian fifth seed Flavio Cobolli at Eastbourne, British number two Jacob Fearnley brushed off a agonizing late-fall slump as “just a little tweak.”

In one hour and five minutes, Fearnley won the first round of the men’s singles with a 6-2, 6-2 victory.

However, Fearnley made a nasty slip while hitting a baseline backhand, which raised concerns from the crowd, the umpire, and Cobolli when the match was 5-1.

Fearnley said he was hopeful that the win was nothing serious despite the fact that he had been hurt.

After the game, the 23-year-old Scot said, “Not too sure, it was just adrenaline getting me over the line.”

Following his successful run to the quarter-finals at Queen’s last week, the world number 51 came out on top again on grass.

Fearnley won the Italian’s world number 24 title with 21 wins, seven of which were won by the Italian.

Cobolli produced an unflinching display with 29 unforced errors while complaining to the unsympathetic Eastbourne crowd.

Billy Harris, the semi-finalist of 2024 Eastbourne, made a strong start to his campaign this year by defeating Cameron Norrie, a fellow Brit.

In Tuesday’s third match on center court, Harris defeated former Wimbledon semi-finalist Norrie 6-4 6-4 to earn a spot in the competition for the first time this year.

With the impressive victory over 61st-ranked Norrie, world number 142 Harris had only won once in his previous appearance against a player in the top 100.

Englishman Harris said, “I knew today would be a difficult match.” I had to play a strong match in the wind, and I did just that.

I had some wonderful memories last year here, so I hope I can make the most of it this week.

With a double break, Harris jumped into a 4-1 lead in the first competitive singles match, taking both of the break points in set one.

Even though the opener, which had only five winners overall, was partially ruined by Norrie’s 13 unforced errors, who had a wildcard for Eastbourne but was below par in this instance despite being able to beak Harris’ serve in the eighth game. In the one-hour and 24-minute encounter, he also failed to hit an ace.

Harris then broke in the seventh game of the second set, going over four Norrie break points in the final game.

Former Wimbledon quarter-finalist Bernard Tomic also won the first ATP match since 2021.

The 32-year-old Australian defeated compatriot Rinky Hijikata 3-6 7-5 6-2 at the Mallorca Open from behind, which had previously placed her 17th in the world but is currently ranked 249.

Tomic’s attitude has drawn a lot of criticism throughout his career because he has frequently boasted about his lifestyle and income.