ATP Tour

Darderi, Moutet race into Marrakech QFs, Trungelliti's Top 100 tilt continues

Luciano Darderi settled in nicely to life as a defending champion on Wednesday at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech.

The top seed marched past his fellow Italian Mattia Bellucci 6-4, 6-2 at the clay ATP 250 with a commanding opening-round display. Darderi did not face a break point and converted three of the nine that he earned, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Picking up where he left off 😎

Top seed and reigning champ @Lucianodarderi_ starts his Marrakech title defence with a victory over compatriot Bellucci 6-4, 6-2!#GrandPrixHassanII pic.twitter.com/ohNl62FIKp

— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 1, 2026

Having won his first ATP Tour trophy at the final edition of the Cordoba ATP 250 in 2024, Darderi claimed his second crown in Marrakech a year ago. The 24-year-old has won three further titles since then (Bastad and Umag in 2025, Santiago in 2026), but is defending a tour-level title for the first time this week in Morocco.

“I’m very happy to come back here after last year,” said Darderi after his 78-minute victory against Bellucci. “Coming back here is a special sensation. The first time I’ve come back to defend a title so I’m very happy to be here. I will try my best to defend it this year.”

The No. 19 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Darderi has won 17 of his past 19 tour-level matches on clay. He will face Yannick Hanfmann in the last eight in Marrakech, after the eighth seed overcame home favourite Karim Bennani 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-2.

Earlier on Wednesday, third seed Corentin Moutet made a similarly rapid start to his title tilt. The Frenchman defeated home favourite Taha Baadi 6-0, 6-2 to reach his first ATP Tour quarter-final of the year. World No. 32 Moutet next faces a maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Marco Trungelliti.

Argentine qualifier Trungelliti kick-started Day 3 in Marrakech with a 7-6(4), 6-3 upset against fifth seed Kamil Majchrzak. The 36-year-old is currently up 17 spots to No. 100 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings as a result of his run. On Monday, he could become the oldest man to break the Top 100 for the first time in the past 50 years.