Adrian Mannarino has stopped Flavio Cobolli in the third round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters. The Frenchman won 6-1 4-6 6-3 and booked a place in the last 16 of the Chinese Masters 1000. For Cobolli, the world No. 6, it is a defeat that leaves a bitter taste.
On paper the match leaned heavily toward the Italian. Cobolli is No. 6 in the ATP rankings with 3,705 points, Mannarino is No. 75 with 798: sixty-nine places apart. The court told a different story.
Mannarino took the first set 6-1, which set the tone. Cobolli reacted in the second, closing it 6-4 to force a decider. In the third the Frenchman got his nose in front again and closed it 6-3, putting the seal on the match.
It was Mannarino's second match in Shanghai. In his opener, the second round, he beat Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-3 2-2 when his opponent retired. A short outing, with only four games played in the second set.
The stakes are significant. Reaching the last 16 at this edition is worth 100 points, the quarter-finals 200, the semi-finals 400, the final 650 and the title 1,000. Mannarino, who has 798 points today, rises to 898 with the last 16; if he won the tournament he would reach 1,698.
His season has been uneven. Since 17 July he has dropped 26 places, he is 13-17 in his last 30 matches, but 6-4 in his last 10. In Chengdu he beat Juncheng Shang 7-6(9) 6-2 and Alejandro Tabilo 6-4 6-4 before losing in the quarter-finals to Denis Shapovalov 6-7(6) 6-3 6-2.
At the US Open he came back to beat Thiago Agustin Tirante in five sets, 4-6 3-6 6-3 6-3 6-3, then lost to Alexander Bublik in the second round, 6-3 6-1 6-1. Cobolli is the highest-ranked opponent on his path in Shanghai.
Cobolli, for his part, arrived on the back of a good summer. He reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon (400 points) and the semi-finals at Cincinnati (another 400), where he beat Miomir Kecmanovic, Alexander Blockx and Tommy Paul before losing to Arthur Fils 6-3 6-4.
After the summer on American hard courts, however, results have thinned out. At the US Open he lost in the third round to Blockx, 6-7(4) 6-3 6-0 6-3. In Beijing he went out in the third round again, against Roman Safiullin, 6-3 6-2, and now Shanghai. In his last 10 matches he has 5 wins and 5 losses.
His ranking remains solid, but it is not safe. Cobolli is 105 points behind Daniil Medvedev, fifth, and only 15 ahead of Felix Auger Aliassime, seventh. Further back is Alex De Minaur on 3,530, 175 points lower. Medvedev (against Jan-Lennard Struff) and Auger Aliassime (against Ugo Carabelli) play their third-round matches on Saturday, so the order can still change.
Over the next six weeks Cobolli has 175 points to defend: 50 in Almaty, 50 in Vienna, 50 at the Paris Masters and 25 in Metz. Last year in Shanghai he went out in the second round and collected 25 points; this year's third round is worth 50.
The tournament has already been full of incident. The draw has 79 players from 27 countries; 46 matches have been played so far, with 25 tie-breaks and 16 matches going to a deciding set. There has been one retirement and one walkover. The longest match was Yannick Hanfmann against Kamil Majchrzak, 6-7(4) 7-6(3) 7-6(7), 39 games.
Another significant result arrived in the third round: Hubert Hurkacz beat Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-3. Djokovic had a semi-final to defend (400 points) from the 2025 edition. Elsewhere, Rei Sakamoto eliminated Andrey Rublev 6-4 6-4, Arthur Gea got past Ugo Humbert 6-4 3-6 6-1 and Brandon Nakashima beat Matteo Berrettini 7-6(4) 7-5.
The roll of honour recalls the recent winners. In 2025 Valentin Vacherot beat Arthur Rinderknech 4-6 6-3 6-3. In 2024 Jannik Sinner defeated Djokovic 7-6(4) 6-3, and in 2023 Hurkacz beat Rublev 6-3 3-6 7-6(8).
For Italy the day is a difficult one. Of five Italians in the draw, only one remains, Lorenzo Musetti, who faces Yi Zhou in the third round. For the other four Italians the tournament ended before the last 16.
The last-16 programme for Sunday 11 October features Alexander Zverev against Quentin Halys, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina against Frances Tiafoe, Alex De Minaur against Rei Sakamoto, Ben Shelton against Arthur Gea and Alexander Bublik against Nakashima. Mannarino's opponent has not yet been set in the order of play.
In the rankings Mannarino sits in a crowded area: Titouan Droguet is ahead on 801 points, Camilo Ugo Carabelli just behind on 795. Ugo Carabelli plays Auger Aliassime on Saturday. Every extra round in Shanghai is therefore worth precious places for Mannarino.
Test yourself
3 questions on what you have just read.
1. What score did Mannarino beat Cobolli by?
2. Who eliminated Djokovic in the third round?
3. How many points is reaching the last 16 in Shanghai worth?