Luciano Darderi gives himself a derby with Flavio Cobolli in Cincinnati

Luciano Darderi-Alejandro Tabilo 6-3 7-6

Luciano Darderi gets off on the right foot in the Cincinnati Masters 1000. The Italian-Argentinean, in fact, overcame Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, number 21 in the ATP ranking, on his debut with a final score of 6-3 7-6 after almost two hours of play.

Darderi started off strong and hit the break in the second game, thanks to a double fault by Tabilo. The azure confirmed the lead (3-0) and defended it until the final 6-3, but not without suffering: as many as six break points were erased by Luciano.

In the second set comes the Chilean’s reaction, who snatches the serve from Darderi in the sixth game and goes up 4-2. Tabilo, however, does not confirm the lead and gets recovered at 4-4. It thus comes to the tie-break: the Chilean goes ahead 5-3 but from here the Italo-Argentine places four consecutive points and closes for 7 points to 5, thanks also to Tabilo’s double fault on match point.

Darderi thus enters the second round of the 'Cincinnati Open' where an Italian derby awaits him with Flavio Cobolli, who beat the U.S. Tommy Paul, the tenth seed on the scoreboard, in three sets, after nullifying three match-points.