Italian tennis player Luciano Darderi has reached his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final after staging one of the most dramatic comebacks of the clay season, defeating second seed Alexander Zverev 1-6, 7-6(10), 6-0 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome. The world No. 20 saved four match points in a tense second-set tie-break before winning the decider without dropping a game.
The result is the biggest upset of the 2026 clay swing and deals a significant blow to Zverev’s ambitions at a tournament he has won twice. For travellers planning a visit to Rome this week, the Italian Open runs until 17 May at the historic Foro Italico, where both ATP and WTA quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals are still to come.
A comeback from the brink
Darderi, 24, appeared beaten when Zverev raced through the opening set 6-1 in just 32 minutes and moved to 5-3 in the second. The German served for the match at 5-4 before Darderi recovered to force a tie-break, saving match points at 5/6, 7/8, 8/9 and 9/10 — the last of them with a precisely executed drop volley.
Once level at one set apiece, Darderi produced an extraordinary turnaround, conceding just one game in the deciding set to close out a 6-0 victory. The win is his first over a top-10 opponent at his sixth attempt, and he becomes the first player other than Jannik Sinner to defeat Zverev at a Masters 1000 event since Shanghai last October.
“I won because of the crowd,” Darderi said on court. “You can’t give up here. It is the tournament of my life.”
The Rome connection
The victory carries particular significance for Darderi, who was born in Villa Gesell, Argentina, to a family of Italian descent and spent formative years living and training in Rome. He has previously described winning the Italian Open as one of his biggest dreams.
His quarter-final opponent will be 19-year-old Spanish prodigy Rafael Jodar, who becomes the first teenager to reach the Rome last eight since Novak Djokovic in 2007. The match is scheduled for Wednesday evening on Campo Centrale.
Record-chasing Sinner also through
Top seed Jannik Sinner advanced to the quarter-finals on the same day, beating fellow Italian Andrea Pellegrino 6-2, 6-3 to equal Djokovic’s record of 31 consecutive wins at ATP Masters 1000 events. Sinner, who has won five straight Masters 1000 titles, is three victories away from becoming the first player to win all nine Masters 1000 trophies — with Rome being the only title currently missing from his collection.
A revamped Foro Italico welcoming global visitors
The 83rd edition of the Italian Open is drawing tennis fans from around the world to the Foro Italico, Rome’s monumental sports complex. For 2026, the venue has introduced a redesigned second stadium, now renamed the BNP Paribas Arena, with capacity increased to more than 7,000 spectators. A new museum route dedicated to Italian sport has also opened within the Stadio dei Marmi.
The tournament runs across two weeks and features more than 300 ATP and WTA matches on clay, making it one of the most extensive tennis events in the world outside the Grand Slams. Tickets for remaining sessions, including this week’s quarter-finals, semi-finals and the men’s and women’s finals on Saturday and Sunday, remain available through the official tournament website.
