Although the top half of the French Open has been in shambles pretty much from the start, Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Flavio Cobolli really isn’t that surprising of a quarterfinal matchup. And it should be a good one when they square off on Wednesday afternoon.
Auger-Aliassime came in as the No. 4 seed, favored to advance out of his quarter and secure a spot in his third Grand Slam semifinal — first at Roland Garros. The sixth-ranked Canadian is one win away from accomplishing that feat, as he has taken care of business so far with victories over Daniel Altmaier, Roman Andres Burruchaga, Brandon Nakashima, and Alejandro Tabilo. It should be noted that Auger-Aliassime’s Paris campaign almost never got off the ground — he needed a fifth-set tiebreaker to survive Altmaier in the very first round.
Cobolli mostly rolled into his second slam quarterfinal, having previously advanced this far last summer at Wimbledon. The world No. 14 cruised past Andrea Pellegrino, Yibing Wu, and Learner Tien in straight sets before finally getting a test from Zachary Svajda and passing it in a fourth-set tiebreaker.
Wednesday marks the third meeting between Auger-Aliassime and Cobolli, with the Italian leading their head-to-head series 2-0. He prevailed twice in 2024 — 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in Acapulco and 6-3, 6-2 at the Montreal Masters. Of course, it’s hard to put much stock in results from two years ago on an entirely different surface.
Moreover, Auger-Aliassime is not really a matchup-dependent player. When he is confident in his own game, he has proven to be among the best players in the world — which he did in 2025 and is doing so again in 2026. When he isn’t, he can lose to just about anyone. Case in point: Altmaier almost sent FAA packing in round one — one week later the 25-year-old is in the last eight and is the second title favorite behind only Alexander Zverev.
Auger-Aliassime has much more experience on this kind of stage. He is also better able to win free points with his serve, which can be an especially important factor in such a pressure-packed match.
Pick: Auger-Aliassime in 4