Luciano Darderi's journey begins with a victory at the Sardinia Open, the ATP 175 Challenger on the clay courts of Tc Cagliari.
The Italian beat the Argentine Thiago Agustin Tirante 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in 2h15'. Very tight match between two tennis players who will be doubles partners tomorrow.
Then the rain stopped the day of competition, sending Francesco Maestrelli and the Portuguese Nuno Borges back to the locker rooms.
Defeats in the last round of qualifications for Marco Cecchinato (7-5, 3-6, 6-4 against the Japanese Shintaro Mochizuki), Francesco Passaro (6-3, 6-7, 7-6 against the Dutch Jesper De Jong) and Andrea Pellegrino (1-6, 6-4, 6-1 from the Argentine Juan Manuel Cerundolo, registered for the host club).
In addition to Maestrelli, three other Italians will take to the field in singles tomorrow: Giulio Zeppieri (against the Hungarian Marton Fucsovic), Fabio Fognini (opposite the Argentine Federico Coria) and Lorenzo Sonego (against the American Alex Michelsen). Five instead in doubles: Darderi (who with Tirante will face the Indian N.Sriram Balaji and the German Andre Begemann), Maestrelli with Passaro (against the Czech Petr Nouza and the Mexican Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela) and the Tc Cagliari pair Niccolò Dessì/Alberto Sanna (opposed to the Indian Yuki Bhambri and the Portuguese Francisco Cabral).
