DARDERI SAVES FOUR MATCH POINTS TO STUN ZVEREV IN ROME THRILLER
Hope
Luciano Darderi produced one of the biggest comebacks of the 2026 tennis season after saving four match points to defeat Alexander Zverev in a dramatic fourth-round clash at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.
The Italian battled back from a set and a break down to claim a remarkable 1-6, 7-6(10), 6-0 victory in front of an electric home crowd, securing his first-ever Top 10 win and a maiden ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final appearance.
Darderi looked completely out of the contest after Zverev dominated the opening set and moved 5-3 ahead in the second. However, the 24-year-old refused to surrender and forced a tense tie-break where he saved four match points at 5/6, 7/8, 8/9 and 9/10.
The turning point came when Zverev missed key opportunities under pressure, while Darderi responded with fearless shot-making and strong serving to level the match.
Backed by passionate support from the Italian crowd, Darderi then completely took over the deciding set, racing to a stunning 6-0 finish in two hours and 25 minutes.
“It was a very tough match,” Darderi said after the victory.
“At 3-5 in the second set, I thought I was done. But the crowd helped me a lot and gave me energy to keep fighting.”
The win marks the biggest moment of Darderi’s career so far and lifts him into the quarter-finals of a Masters 1000 event for the first time.
The Italian also became the first player outside of Jannik Sinner to beat Zverev at Masters 1000 level since Shanghai in October last year.
Meanwhile, Zverev’s disappointing exit ends his hopes of winning a third Rome title. The German had appeared in control for large parts of the match before collapsing late in the second set and failing to recover mentally in the decider.
Darderi will now face rising Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar in the quarter-finals as his dream run in Rome continues.
