Luciano Darderi, mission accomplished at the U.S. Open: Svrcina defeated, nerves put aside
Luciano Darderi wins again at the U.S. Open. After defeating Britain’s Harry Wendelken in four sets in his opening match, the Italian did it again against Dalibor Svrcina: the Czech lost 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4, putting up a fierce fight for over three and a quarter hours. The Italian-Argentine, however, did well to maintain control of the match, particularly after losing the second set in a tiebreak.
The first set began with Darderi losing his serve to Svrcina in the very first game, but he did an excellent job of immediately breaking back to tie the score at 1-1. He took the lead at 3-1, and then the Italian did a great job of not getting caught off guard in an interminable seventh game (a full 12 points) and clinched the set. In the second set, however, the break at 3-2 proved fruitless: the Czech player evened the score at 4-4 and then prevailed in the tiebreak after saving a set point at 6-5.
A very complicated and tense match (both players smashed their rackets; Svrcina, incidentally, finished with a whopping 20 double faults) continued in the final two sets, in which Darderi never lost his lead despite the third set ending with five games featuring five breaks. Chaos reigned in the fourth set as well, which opened with three more games lost by the player holding serve. There would be four more such breaks, though three of them worked against the Czech: Darderi won, and his US Open run continues. This came after a day that proved far more difficult than expected, against the No. 134 player in the ATP rankings.
The first round hadn’t been easy either, when Darderi had edged out Wendelken at the end of a battle that also lasted over three hours. On that occasion, the Italian also had to contend with a slippery court due to the rain, protesting the playing conditions in the second set, which he ultimately lost 6-3. Darderi, however, was able to bounce back, dominating the third set and securing the decisive break in the eleventh game of the fourth set to close it out 7-5. The victory was built in part on 15 aces and a total of 147 points won, compared to his opponent’s 130.
Svrcina’s fate was an interesting one, as he faced one of the hottest Italian players of the moment at the 2026 US Open. The Czech player, ranked No. 134 in the ATP rankings, was already known to Italian fans for having faced Jannik Sinner at Indian Wells, where he was swept aside 6-1, 6-1 in just 65 minutes. A tough opponent for anyone, as demonstrated by the resistance he put up against Darderi, but clearly not on the same level as the circuit’s top players.
Darderi’s victory is part of an extraordinary Italian showing at Flushing Meadows: there are a full ten Italian players in the men’s draw. The most anticipated players remain Flavio Cobolli, the fifth seed, and Lorenzo Musetti, the 13th seed, who faced off in the round of 16 in last year’s tournament. But Matteo Berrettini, Lorenzo Sonego, Mattia Bellucci, Matteo Arnaldi, Francesco Passaro, Guerrieri, and the young Cinà also round out a group that demonstrates the extraordinary depth of Italian tennis.
This year’s tournament looks particularly wide open, mainly due to the absence of Jannik Sinner, the world No. 1 and 2024 defending champion. The South Tyrolean is undergoing rehabilitation at J Medical in Turin for inflammation in the tendons of his right knee, with the goal of returning to competition in late September in Beijing. Taking over as the top favorite is Carlos Alcaraz, the defending champion, who is making his return after more than four months out with a wrist injury: “Coming back here and playing best-of-five sets after such a long time will be really challenging,” the Spaniard admitted. Darderi, meanwhile, is enjoying the moment and preparing for the third round.
