Luciano Darderi produced one of the most dramatic comeback wins of the clay-court season Tuesday, saving four match points before stunning Alexander Zverev 1-6, 7-6(10), 6-0 to reach the quarterfinals of the Italian Open.
The Italian looked finished for much of the match. Zverev, the No. 2 seed and world No. 3, controlled the opening set with clean baseline hitting and carried that command deep into the second, moving within two points of victory as Darderi trailed 3-5.
But the match flipped in front of a loud home crowd in Rome. Darderi broke back, forced a second-set tiebreak and then survived four match points at 5-6, 7-8, 8-9 and 9-10. Three of those came with Zverev serving. Each time, Darderi found a way out, mixing a heavy first serve, bold forehands and touch at the net to keep himself alive.
When Zverev double faulted to hand Darderi the second set, the momentum shifted completely. The German’s game unraveled in the decider, while Darderi played with growing freedom. The Italian raced through the third set without dropping a game, sealing the biggest win of his career and his first ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal.
“I won because of the crowd. You can’t give up here,” Darderi said afterward, calling it “the tournament of my life.”
For Zverev, it was a brutal collapse. The two-time Rome champion had been chasing another deep run at one of his strongest Masters events, but after failing to close out the second set, he had no answer in the final stretch. The loss also ended his bid to reach a sixth straight Masters 1000 quarterfinal.
For Darderi, the victory continued a breakthrough clay season and gave the Italian his first Top 10 win. He is now into the last eight in Rome, where he will face 19-year-old Spaniard Rafael Jodar in one of the surprise quarterfinals of the tournament.
Jodar has been one of the stories of the 2026 clay swing. He beat Learner Tien 6-1, 6-4 to become the first teenager since Novak Djokovic in 2007 to reach the Rome quarterfinals. ATP also noted that Jodar has now reached multiple Masters 1000 quarterfinals this season, underlining how quickly he has moved from prospect to serious tour-level threat.
That sets up a fascinating quarterfinal between two players who have made their names on clay this spring in very different ways: Darderi with a survival act against one of the game’s most established stars, and Jodar with the calm, sharp rise of a teenager already looking comfortable on the biggest stages.
Rome has already delivered several surprises this week, but Darderi’s escape against Zverev may be the wildest yet. A match that seemed over at 1-6, 3-5 ended with an Italian celebration, a stunned favorite, and a new quarterfinal few would have predicted when the draw began.
