Tennis, Darderi wins the first 250 tournament in Cordoba

How to best end the best week of your career? After a triumphant ride Luciano Darderi wins his first ATP 250 in his career, beating the host Facundo Bagnis in the Cordoba final, who started like Darderi from the qualifiers. The Italian, who eliminated people like Ofner, Hanfmann and Baez in succession, also managed to win this final in Argentina, the country where he was born and lived before moving to Italy at the age of 10. Having entered the Cordoba draw with number 136, Darderi will leave as number 76 in the world after a completely unexpected exploit. In the final against Bagnis, Luciano is simply perfect and plays divinely, especially in the first set. It ends 6-1 6-4 in an hour and 25 minutes for Darderi, who now joins the already extraordinary group of Italian players in the top 100 (he would still have been number 94 if he had lost in the final). Luciano manages to suffer less from the heat than the Argentine, in a Cordoba overwhelmed by humidity (Bagnis changes his shirt at least 3 times during the match).

the match

—

In the first set we expect a tight match but instead the match doesn’t exist: Darderi brings out the same version that was seen in the match with Ofner and devastates his opponent in 26 minutes: 27 points to 11, total domination with the serve, extreme aggression in response and also a series of incomprehensible errors from Bagnis. Down one set, the Argentine seems to be sinking, suffering a break to 0 in the first game of the second set. Darderi quickly goes up 2-0, but the first serious miss of the tournament arrives for the Italian, who misses 3 times with the forehand, gives the counterbreak and Bagnis returns to the match. At 3-3 the seventh game is very long, in which the Argentine does not concede break points, but risks a lot. Darderi also got nervous with the chair umpire for a dubious call, but immediately regained his composure, taking the score to 4-4. Bagnis is exhausted and creates a disaster on serve, with a double fault that takes him to 0-40 and seems to condemn him: Facundo takes pride and cancels five break points in an infinite leg, but gives in on the sixth occasion, with Darderi who goes to serve for the match after a cross-court backhand that leaves Bagnis standing still, with no more energy left. Luciano doesn’t tremble and ends the match easily, hugging his family and girlfriend after the last point. One year after his debut on the ATP circuit, Darderi touches heaven.

the others

—

In Dallas, in the 250 indoor, Tommy Paul wins, having struggled a lot against Marcos Giron (excellent in the previous rounds against Tiafoe and Mannarino), but wins his second career tournament. Great success for Humbert, who beat Grigor Dimitrov in front of the people of Marseille. For the tennis player from Metz it is the fifth ATP title in his career, the fourth 250.