Heart and super forehands are not enough: the Italian Luciano Darderi is beaten (3-6, 5-7) in the semi-final in Cagliari by the Argentine Navone, 41st in the world and seeded number three of the Sardinian Challenger 175.
The dream of an all-Italian final fades away in an hour and 48 minutes with Musetti, winner in the very early afternoon of the other match at the Monte Urpinu power plant against Galan.
Tomorrow at 5.30pm the final between Carrarino and Navone: an unprecedented challenge. Darderi gets off to a bad start, immediately losing his serve.
But then, at zero to two, he catches Navone again with his forehand bombardments. Then the Italian-Argentine loses serve and patience: warning for destroying the racket. And Navone takes advantage of his opponent’s not exactly relaxed nerves to escape at 4 to 2. It is somehow the phase that leads the partial towards Navone’s downhill victory: 6-3 in 41 minutes. In the second set: no one gives up their serve until 2-2. Darderi tries to break the balance with the break which makes it 3-2. But there is immediately the counterbreak: 3 all. Continue like this until 5-5 without losing the joke. Then the decisive extension: first the 6-5 then the decisive game with the Argentinian breaking serve from his almost compatriot (Darderi was born in the province of Buenos Aires) and flying to the final with Musetti.
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