Luciano Darderi celebrates its absolute debut at the Foro Italico with a very hard-earned and beautiful victory against the former top ten and semi-finalist of the tournament, Denis Shapovalov. After three hours and 15 minutes of marathon the Italian-Argentine, carried away by the crowd at the Centrale, closed the comeback with a score of 6-7 6-3 7-6 and avenged the match lost two months ago in Miami. This is the second career success in a Masters 1000 after the one achieved against Monfils in Madrid. He will face the Argentine Mariano Navone in the second round (the previous matches between the two were 2-2, the last one was won by Navone in the semi-final of the Challenger in Cagliari last week).
The first set starts immediately on a battle level: two breaks on each side, but also a lot of entertainment. Shapovalov, semi-finalist of the 2020 Internazionali, a tournament that earned him the first top ten entry in his career, makes and undoes: 20 winners compared to 33 gratuitous errors. But he is colder in the tiebreak: 7-4, on the third set point after an hour and a quarter. Luciano, supported by the many fans in the stands, does not lose heart and at 2-2 in the second set he scores 4 games out of 5. In the blink of an eye it is 6-3. We go to the third set which follows the same lines as the first: two breaks on each side with Darderi who, despite the pain in his knee, survives the serve in which Shapovalov can take home the match. In the tiebreak the Canadian, increasingly nervous, disappears, Darderi finds the remaining energy with the roar of the Central at every point. A short ball into the net by his opponent gives him the first Roman victory in his career.
