Flavio Cobolli is the winner of this year’s Bitpanda Hamburg Open. The Italian beat the third seed Andrey Rublev 6:2 and 6:4 in a thrilling final to celebrate his first victory in an ATP 500 tournament.
The final of this year’s Bitpanda Hamburg Open kicked off at 2:40 p.m. on the dot in perfect weather conditions – it was much milder than on the previous days. On the sold-out center court, there was not much of a warm-up between the two final opponents, who were meeting for the first time ever on the tour. Cobolli immediately made the first break with his courageous attacking tennis and took the lead. Rublev struggled with himself and initially chased the lead. His error rate was high at the beginning and his first serve was also too infrequent. The world number 17 gave free rein to his frustration and his racket landed on the red clay early on. After ten minutes, Cobolli led 3:0 after a real lightning start and the self-confidence of the world number 35 grew by the minute. Cobolli repeatedly thumped his chest or clenched his fist in the direction of his box.
 

Cobolli also managed to survive a brief wobble. After a double fault, the Italian conceded the break to 2:4, but only shook himself briefly and broke Rublev in turn. Cobolli sent his opponent into the corner with spectacular volleys and repeatedly caused a murmur on the court. At the end of the first set, the right-hander, whose biggest success on the ATP Tour to date had been a victory at the 250 tournament in Bucharest in April, had a well-deserved 6:2.

In the second set, Rublev was initially more concentrated on his own serve, both players were largely on an equal footing and produced spectacular rallies. It was a more than worthy final, which Cobolli finally won. After 1:19 hours, the Italian served for victory and only showed nerves for a short time. Thanks in part to a double fault, Cobolli suddenly had two break points against him, which he was able to fend off with an energetic performance and finally convert his first match point.
At 4.10 p.m. Cobolli sank to the ground in disbelief after a total of 1:28 hours of play, Rublev was – naturally – the first to congratulate him as a fair sportsman. The audience had long since risen to give him a standing ovation.
 

“I can’t even describe it. I played the best game of my life,” said Cobolli, who can look forward to prize money of 403,665 euros. “Thank you to everyone who made this week so special. Thank you to the ball kids, the umpires and especially the spectators. Without you, it wouldn’t have been possible to play my best tennis. I hope to see you again next year,” said the winner.

The Italians had already celebrated in the doubles final, with Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori defeating Andres Moletni (Argentina) and Fernando Romboli (Brazil) 6:4 and 6:0 after 1:08 hours.
The date for next year has already been set: the 2026 Bitpanda Hamburg Open will take place from May 16 to 23.