Luciano Darderi, born in 2002, is the first Italian to reach the second round of the Sardinia Open (photo Mike Lawrence/ATP)
The first months of 2024 brought a decisive turning point to Luciano Darderi’s career. In February the tennis player born in 2002, number 60 in the world ranking, won his first ATP title in Cordoba, then reiterated that he has tennis to stay full-time on the major circuit and is now also seeking glory on the clay of the Cagliari Tennis Club . He was the first Italian competing in the main draw of the Sardegna Open, a premium event in the ATP Challenger 175 category with 205,000 euros in prize money, and on his debut he achieved a good success against the Argentine Thiago Agustin Tirante, making a comeback at the end of a battle of great intensity. In front of the large crowd at Centrale it ended 3-6 6-3 6-4, with Darderi able to emerge from the distance and make his superiority count in the final. An initial extension at 4-2 in the third set wasn’t enough, but from 4-4 the blue was perfect: first he kept his serve at zero and then he never made any more mistakes, pushing his rival into the error which gave him success, just before a powerful downpour forced the suspension – and then postponement until Wednesday – of the remaining part of the program. On Thursday for Darderi, literally attacked at the end of the match by kids looking for photos and autographs, there will be one between the Japanese Daniel and the Argentine Ugo Carabelli. The Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka also won the second round at Monte Urpinu, determined to improve on the colorless performance of twelve months ago, when he greeted the tournament on his debut as the number one favourite. He has already done better this year, beating the Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas without much difficulty (6-2 6-4).
The qualifiers also ended on Tuesday of the Sardinia Open, without satisfaction for the Italian tennis players involved in the decisive round. There were three of them and they all gave up, bringing many regrets to the locker room. In particular Andrea Pellegrino and Francesco Passaro: the former led 6-1 4-2 against the Argentinian (registered for Tc Cagliari) Juan Manuel Cerundolo, before losing nine games in a row and shortly thereafter also the match. While Passaro seemed to have turned the match against the Dutch Jesper De Jong when he took a 4-1 lead in the third set, with two breaks ahead. But his rival went back upstream and punished him in the tie-break, winning 6-3 6-7 7-6. Cecchinato also lost in three sets, beaten 7-5 3-6 6-4 by the Japanese Shintaro Mochizuki. Also in the main draw is the Canadian Gabriel Diallo, Cerundolo’s next opponent in a match that will decide the first challenger in Lorenzo Musetti’s Cagliari (on the pitch on Thursday). The cancellation of the last two singles matches of the day will make for an even richer Wednesday – with tickets already sold out – thanks to the beauty of 15 matches. We start at 11 and the highlight will be on Centrale from mid-afternoon, when it will be the turn of first Fabio Fognini (against Federico Coria) and then Lorenzo Sonego, who will begin the hunt for his second title at Tc Cagliari against the American Alex Michelsen. Further information on the website www.sardegnaopen.com and on the Instagram page @sardegnaopen.
CENTRAL – Italian time: 12:00 (local time: 12:00 pm)
1. [6] Marton Fucsovics vs [WC] Giulio Zeppieri
2. Taro Daniel vs [Alt] Camilo Ugo Carabelli
3. [Alt] Fabio Fognini 
vs Federico Coria 
4. Alex Michelsen vs [5] Lorenzo Sonego
FIELD 14 – Italian time: 11:00 (local time: 11:00 am)
1. [Q] Shintaro Mochizuki 
vs Daniel Altmaier
2. [7] Nuno Borges vs [WC] Francesco Maestrelli
3. Daniel Elahi Galan vs [Alt] Radu Albot
4. Petr Nouza / Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela vs [WC] Francesco Maestrelli / Francesco Passaro
5. [4] Constantin Frantzen 
/ Hendrik Jebens vs Nikola Cacic / Bart Stevens
6. [WC] Niccolo Dessi / Alberto Sanna vs [3] Yuki Bhambri / Francisco Cabral 
FIELD 2 – Italian time: 11:00 (local time: 11:00 am)
1. [Q] Gabriel Diallo vs [Q] Juan Manuel Cerundolo
2. [Alt] Zsombor Piros 
vs [Alt] Zachary Svajda 
3. [Q] Jesper de Jong 
vs [Alt] Emilio Nava
4. Luciano Darderi / Thiago Agustin Tirante vs [PR] N. Sriram Balaji 
/ Andre Begemann
5. [1] Julian Cash / Robert Galloway vs. Evan King / Orlando Luz
RESULTS
Singular. First round: Yoshihito Nishioka (Jpn) b. Juan Pablo Varillas (Per) 6-2 6-4, Luciano Darderi (Ita) b. Thiago Agustin Tirante (Arg) 3-6 6-3 6-4.
Double. First round: Erler/Miedler (Aut/Aut) b. Oswald/Romboli (Aut/Bra) 6-2 6-4, Albot/Pellegrino (Mda/Ita) b. Coria/Ugo Carabelli (Arg/Arg) 6-4 5-7 10/6, Arias/Zeballos (Bol/Bol) b. Dellien/Galan (Bol/Col) 6-4 6-2.
Qualifications. Decisive round: Gabriel Diallo (Can) b. Hugo Dellien (Bol) 7-5 6-2, Jesper De Jong (Ned) b. Francesco Passaro (Ita) 6-3 6-7 7-6, Shintaro Mochizuki (Jpn) b. Marco Cecchinato (Ita) 7-5 3-6 6-4, Juan Manuel Cerundolo (Arg) b. Andrea Pellegrino (Ita) 1-6 6-4 6-1.
 with Sonego and Fognini){kind=link}