Luciano Darderi beat Camilo Ugo Carabelli 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 at the Playa Laguna Croatia Open in Umag to reach his second consecutive final one week after winning his third ATP Tour title in Bastad.
Darderi has extended his winning streak to eight consecutive matches. The Italian player of Argentinian origin has joined Alcaraz and Baez as the only players to reach three finals on clay this year.
Carabelli held serve at love in the first game of the opening set. Darderi won his first service game at 15. Carabelli rallied from 0-30 in the third game to hold serve for 2-1. Darderi held serve at love in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2. Carabelli came back from 0-30 down in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. Both players held serve en route to the tie-break.
Darderi saved one set point on return in the first set tie-break and sealed the first set with a forehand winner. He won 89% of his first serve points in the second set.
Darderi held serve at 15 in the first game of the second set. The number 2 seed did not convert three brek points in the second game. Darderi earned his first break in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead before saving two break points in a very long seventh game. He closed out the match 6-3 with a forehand.
Darderi has moved up 10 spots to world number 36 in the ATP Live Rankings.
“I played very good. I stayed focused in the first set because he was playing very good in the beginning of the match. I just stayed focused. Was a set point down but kept fighting and then in the second set I played so much better, so I am very happy to be in the second final in a row”, said Darderi.
Darderi set up a final against Carlos Taberner, who cruised past Damir Dzumhur 6-2 6-1 to advance to his first ATP Tour final. Taberner has moved up 27 spots to number 84 in the ATP Live Rankings.
