Luciano Darderi earned one of the comeback wins of the season on Tuesday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, where he saved four match points en route to upsetting second seed Alexander Zverev in Rome.
Darderi rallied from 3-5 in the second set and then saved match points at 5/6, 7/8, 8/9 and 9/10 in the second-set tie-break before eventually levelling on his second set point. In front of an electric Italian crowd, Darderi then raced through the third set to record a 1-6, 7-6(10), 6-0 victory, sparking jubiliant scenes in the Italian capital.
With his two-hour, 25-minute win, Darderi advanced to the quarter-finals at an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time, while he also recorded his first Top 10 win at his sixth attempt.