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Sebastian Korda battled past Flavio Cobolli 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-4 to reach the third round of the Italian Open at Foro Italico. However, his celebration was later met with the fans' disapproval.
The American has only won a single ATP title in his career, which came in 2021 at the Emilia-Romagna Open. He is in pursuit of his second ATP title at the ongoing Italian Open.
The fans passionately supported the home player but didn't encourage the 23-year-old. After the victory, Korda was spotted rejoicing and later blew a kiss towards the fans. The fans, however, seemed disappointed by the celebrations and showed their disapproval by booing Korda.
Watch the video below:
Sebastian Korda to face World No. 13 Taylor Fritz in the next round of the 2024 Italian Open
Sebastian Korda will be up against his compatriot and World No. 13 Taylor Fritz. Fritz defeated Italy's Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the third round.
Fritz had an impressive campaign at the 2024 Madrid Open. The 26-year-old managed to reach the semifinals of the tournament but lost to Andrey Rublev 4-6, 3-6.
However, Fritz seemed unconvinced by the density of clay at the center court. In the post-match press conference, the American highlighted that other stadiums (Arantxa Sanchez and Stadium 3) were faster than the center court and that he even faced difficulties in serving due to the disparities. [10:10 onwards]
"My game feels even better when I was playing on I guess Arantxa Sanchez and Stadium 3. I feel like, for sure, it's faster in there it's bouncing higher in there. Center court's definitely slower and it was pretty slippery as well I thought" Fritz said during his post-match press conference."
"I wish I would have served a lot better. I've been serving well all week. I didn't serve well and I just felt very, like I said, I felt like the court was, I know for a fact that there's not as much clay on center than all the other courts," Fritz said further. [12:25].
Fritz and Korda have only met each other once at the 2022 Monte Carlo Masters, where the former won 7-6(4), 7-5 in the fourth round.
