ATP Tour

Darderi downs Cerundolo in ding-dong Bastad SF, faces De Jong for title

Luciano Darderi dug deep into his energy reserves on Saturday evening in Bastad to pull off his maiden Top 20 victory and simultaneously book a final spot at the Nordea Open.

The Italian overcame top seed Francisco Cerundolo 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(3) in hot conditions at the Swedish ATP 250 to reach his third tour-level championship match. Darderi rallied from 2-4 in the final set to prevail in a match featuring 11 breaks of serve, according to Infosys ATP Stats, and set a Sunday final against Jesper de Jong.

WHAT. A. MATCH. 😱@Lucianodarderi_ is final bound in Bastad, outlasting the top seed Cerundolo in three tight sets 6-2 3-6 7-6(3)! @NordeaOpen | #NordeaOpen pic.twitter.com/7KvwucebF6

— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 19, 2025

“Playing against Francisco is always very tough. Today I played an amazing match, but in front of me I had one of the best players in the world,” said Darderi in his on-court interview. “It’s never easy to play against a friend, too, but I played a great match. I fought until the last point, and I think that was the key to the match today.”

Darderi had dropped just six games across his previous two matches in Bastad, against Elias Ymer and Sebastian Baez, respectively. Yet there was nothing straightforward about the Italian’s victory against World No. 20 Cerundolo, even after he raced through the opening set. Darderi was broken twice in the second set and twice more early in the third set, but he regained his edge to complete a comeback win, his biggest by PIF ATP Ranking.

With his two-hour, 34-minute triumph, Darderi avenged 2025 defeats to Cerundolo in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro and levelled the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 2-2. He will step on court Sunday with a 2-0 record in ATP Tour finals after his triumphs in Cordoba last year and Marrakech in April.

The man aiming to end Darderi’s perfect record in finals will be De Jong after the Dutchman earlier defeated Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-3, 7-6(3). It will be a maiden ATP Tour title match for the 25-year-old Dutchman, whose run in Bastad so far has propelled him 23 spots to No. 83 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.

"It's better than my coach, because he was a semi-finalist here in 2013, and now I did better than him, so I won't forget it," joked De Jong about his coach Thiemo de Bakker in his on-court interview. "I'm very happy to be in my first ATP final. I was a little bit shaky at the end at 6-5, but that happens and it turned out great."