While the public flocked, numerous as always, to fill the stands of the CT Perugia, despite the European football championships, Marcello Marchesini, owner of MEF Tennis Events he must have thought: “whatever happens it will be a triumph”. And this is indeed the case, because the outcome of the tournament can only be exciting: a huge audience and players happy to be here. These are the main ingredients of the MEF formula, of their gentle professionalism that attracts the public and entices the athletes. In fact, how could the presence here of be explained differently Luciano Darderi, now in all respects a top player? There are no superficial reasons, given that the grass season is now starting, and perhaps not even a ranking one because any 125 points from the victory cannot guarantee him a place among the top seeds at Wimbledon. It’s just that Luciano feels at home here, as demonstrated by the 2022 semi-final obtained by an almost unknown player and last year’s victory in Todi, right where the journey of the Marchesini family began, whose members we mention with pleasure: in addition to Marcello, the wife Elizabeth and daughters Elena And Federica, the real operational arm of the structure. Meanwhile the public has settled in and we can start with the curiosity to find out if Luciano Darderi will be the first Italian to enter his name in the tournament’s roll of honour. Obviously Sumit Nagal will not agree, thanks to his excellent form, evidenced by last week’s victory in Heilbronn. Although in reality his journey here in Umbria was not very easy, forced twice to the third set and risking a lot against our Alessandro Giannessi. Darderi’s path was easier as he didn’t lose a set, easily beating Cinà, Pellegrino and Fognini, struggling just a little against Daniel Altmaier. And Darderi is in fact the author of a sprint start because in the third game he immediately breaks his opponent’s serve and gains confidence, if ever there was any need, by tossing his opponent from one side of the court to the other. Nagal appears a little dazed and, unable to react, in the fifth game he suffers a second break, giving his opponent an advantage that seems unbridgeable. Thus, almost inevitably, a third break arrives which gives Darderi a first set that he literally dominated. Same music at the beginning of the second set with the Italian-Argentinian breaking Nagal’s serve for the umpteenth time. However, his reaction comes unexpectedly in the next game when he surprisingly returns the break and seems to be able to get back into the match. But it’s only an optical illusion because Darderi starts pushing again with unchanged energy and Nagal sinks again until the final 6-1 6-2. For the 22-year-old from Villa Gesell it is the third title at Challenger level, in addition obviously to the ATP 250 won in February on the red clay of Cordoba. With this result, from Monday Darderi should rise to position n.34 ATP, his new best ranking and, all things considered, he could even miss out on a top seed at Wimbledon, although obviously it no longer depends on him but on possible forfeits, with Djokovic and Bublik among the first suspects.
Meanwhile on the English grass of Nottingham (Challenger 125) the adventure ends with a small disappointment Mattia Bellucci who was stopped in the semi-final (6-3 6-1) by the host Jacob Fearnley, coming from the qualifiers. It’s a shame because the blue seemed to be really at ease on a surface where, despite having only played 14 matches in total, he is showing off a decent predisposition with his left-handedness full of anomalous shots, often bordering on extemporaneousness. The tennis player from Lombardy seems to be definitely growing after a long period of adaptation to his new ranking reality, a ranking that seems to smile at him again and sees him rise to n.145, just three places behind his best. Just for the record, Jacob Fearnley then also won the tournament, beating his compatriot Charles Broom (n.195) in a final between players with a score of 4-6 6-4 6-3.
For Fearnley it is the first Challenger success in his career which gives him the new best ranking at position n.274 ATP.
