ROME/WASHINGTON, May 13, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)
Moments after Luciano Darderi had secured the biggest win of his professional tennis career, a 1-6, 7-6 (10), 6-0 victory over World No. 3 and second seed Alexander Zverev at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, in which he saved four match points to earn his first triumph over a Top-10 player, the 24-year-old Italian born in Argentina was both emotionally and physically spent.
However, the 18th-seeded Darderi was giddy with happiness, too.
First career top 10 win.
First career Masters 1000 quarterfinal.@Lucianodarderi_ becomes the first man not named Sinner to defeat Zverev at Masters 1000 level this year – and he does it at home! 🇮🇹#IBI26 | @atptour pic.twitter.com/kH0Jo51X71— Internazionali BNL d’Italia (@InteBNLdItalia) May 12, 2026
After congratulating Zverev at the net, Darderi returned to the BNP Paribas Arena court – second-largest at Foro Italico – beaming a smile for all to see while soaking in the applause. Then, he raced to the baseline, where there was plenty of emotion in his box. Father and coach, Luciano Enrique Darderi, applauded in appreciation of what his son had just accomplished. The two exchanged a jubilant hug, and the younger Darderi was hugged plenty by his team, too.
Soon after, television cameras caught him as he exchanged high-fives with happy Italian fans and willingly posed for selfies. It became evident that Darderi didn’t want the celebration to end. He was the man of the hour, the toast of Italy.
“I won because of the crowd. You can’t give up here,” Darderi explained, during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “The crowd helped me a lot – every point – and it is a dream to be in the quarterfinals. It is the tournament of my life.”
“I won because of them” 🥰
Darderi dedicating his career-best win to the crowd 🤲#IBI26 pic.twitter.com/cx7XEmRQhm
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 12, 2026
In a Roman fortnight that Darderi won’t soon forget, he has secured a trio of quality wins over Yannick Hanfmann of Germany, No. 16 seed Tommy Paul of the United States and Zverev. Next up is upstart No. 32 seed Rafael Jodar of Spain. It will be the first meeting between these two bright and up-and-coming stars of the ATP Tour.
During his two-hour, 25-minute fourth-round thriller against Zverev, in which Darderi advanced to his 15th and biggest quarterfinal of his career (and 14th on clay), he mounted a tremendous rally from 3-5 down in the second set after dropping the opening set 6-1. Darderi saved match points at 5-6, 7-8, 8-9 and 9-10 during a marathon-like, 22-point tie-break before eventually pulling out the middle set on his second set-point opportunity.
Tiebreak theatrics 😱
Luciano Darderi rallies from 6-1, 5-3 down and saves FOUR match points to level up with Zverev!#IBI26 | @atptour pic.twitter.com/x1LLI7ZiTl
— Internazionali BNL d’Italia (@InteBNLdItalia) May 12, 2026
From there, the Italian fans went to work. They carried the 6-foot, 180-pound Darderi through the third set, in which he broke Zverev’s serve three straight times and won going away. Upon securing match point, they rewarded Darderi with a standing ovation.
“It was a very tough match,” Darderi admitted during his on-court interview. “At the start I was not feeling very good physically. At 3-5 in the second set, I was done. I think I had a small chance in the second set, when I held for 4-5 and then the tie-break was a lot of pressure for him and me. It is not easy to play here because I am a bit nervous, but it was really nice. It was a good fight mentally from me. That was important.”
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With his 17th victory of the season, Darderi became the first player other than fellow Italian and World No. 1 Jannik Sinner to beat Zverev during an ATP Masters 1000 tournament this year.
Zverev gave props to Darderi during his post-match news conference, saying: “He played amazing tennis.”
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On Wednesday evening, Darderi will share center stage with the 19-year-old Jodar, the first teenager since Novak Djokovic in 2007 to reach the quarterfinals in Rome. They will close out the night session on Campo Centrale, the largest show court at Foro Italico.
For Jodar, it’s his second-straight ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal after reaching the last eight in Madrid last month before losing to eventual-champion Sinner.
“Very, very excited to be in a quarterfinal again,” Jodar said after he advanced with a fourth-round victory over 19th-seeded American Learner Tien. “Yeah, as I said before, try to approach every match with the best mentality possible because I’m aware that everyone here plays very well. You have to play very well. You have to be consistent. You have to have a tough mentality to get the wins in all the tournaments.”
“So very excited how the process is going for me.”
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Meanwhile, the Italian No. 4 from Fano, a coastal city in the Marche region of Italy, which is where Darderi’s paternal grandfather originally emigrated from before the family settled in Argentina, has passed Frenchman Arthur Fils to become World No. 17 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.
During his post-match news conference with Italian media on Tuesday, Darderi said he wanted to prove he could play a match like he did against Zverev in Rome.
“There is so much pressure to play here,” he said (translated from Italian). “I wanted to prove that I could play a match like that here. Luckily, I managed to win, because I could very well lose.
“The level is there anyway. … I knew I was playing well. I am proud to have continued to fight in the most difficult moment. …
“Everyone knows that I was born in Argentina. If I hadn’t become Top 30, Top 20, no one would have noticed. The Davis Cup dream is always there, even if I haven’t been able to make it come true yet because we have a lot of players.
“It’s a very good time for Italian tennis. I’m happy to be one of the four in the Top 20. Jannik [Sinner], Lorenzo [Musetti], and Flavio [Cobolli] are really strong. …
“My dream is to win Rome.”
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