Flavio Cobolli’s first match at the Laver Cup ended in defeat to Joao Fonseca, giving Team World their first point of the competition.
The Italian was looking to give Team Europe a commanding 3-0 lead after Casper Ruud’s opening victory and Jakub Mensik’s win in the day session.
It was not to be for the 23-year-old, however, when faced with a hard-hitting Fonseca, who defeated him in straight sets to get his side on the board.
The two Laver Cup debutants went toe-to-toe with 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer watching on, which Cobolli couldn’t help but notice during the contest.
Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images for Laver Cup
Fonseca had taken the first set and was leading 3-2 in the second when his opponent took a moment to speak to his captains, Yannick Noah and Tim Henman.
Cobolli told them: “I can not lose with Roger there cheering for me.”
Henman consoled him and replied: “Come on, focus, man. You’ve got this. One at a time. Stay aggressive.”
The Team Europe star only managed to take one more game off Fonseca after that, with the final score finishing 6-4, 6-3.
Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images for Laver CupJoao Fonseca levels his head-to-head with Flavio Cobolli
Fonseca not only got Team World’s first point with his triumph, but also levelled his ATP head-to-head with Cobolli.
Their Laver Cup bout marked the second tour-level meeting between them, following their first clash at the Halle Open earlier this season.
In the first round of the grass-court tournament, Cobolli and Fonseca produced a three-set thriller, lasting two hours and 44 minutes, which featured two tiebreaks.
The Brazilian ultimately suffered defeat in Halle, but got his revenge convincingly in San Francisco.