The Italian, widely favored on the eve, beats the German 7-6 7-5 and now aims for the Top 20
Luciano Darderi completes an incredible Sunday for Italian tennis. After Flavio Cobolli’s triumph in Mexico in Acapulco and the success in the Pune Challenger of eighteen-year-old Federico Cinà from Palermo, the ATP 250 in Santiago de Chile is also colored blue. Darderi in a very tough match beat the German Yannick Hanfmann in two sets (7-6 (8) 7-5 the score in an hour and 48 minutes), taking the fifth tournament of his career and redeeming himself from the final lost in Buenos Aires against Cerundolo, the only one so far in his career. With this success Darderi remains number 21 in the world, but entering the top 20 seems only a matter of time. The match – Darderi was facing an opponent, Hanfmann, who is very comfortable playing at high altitude and therefore very difficult to face. And it showed in this final. Luciano started very well, taking a break immediately in the third game, but the German responded in the eighth game, dragging the Italian to the tie break. Where the fight was even closer, with very long exchanges. Darderi had a set point at 6-5, which was cancelled, but at 7-6 in his favour, he made no mistake, winning the first set.
THE TRIUMPH
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In the second set Hanfmann started strong, with a break in the third game, but Darderi responded immediately and equalized the score. Both kept their foot on the accelerator on their serves, conceding zero break points until 6-5 and the Hanfmann serve. The German cannot stand the pressure and makes decisive errors, Darderi takes advantage of this and becomes the king of Santiago, Chile on the first match point. Previously, Luciano had conquered the Cordoba tournament in 2024 and last year Marrakesh, Bastad and Umago, the most successful Italian of the season behind, obviously, Jannik Sinner.
