Zverev continues his impressive winning streak in the Italian Open.

At the 2024 Italian Open, Alexander Zverev faced Luciano Darderi, a very difficult opponent who had the support of the audience, but it wasn’t enough.

This year, Darderi surprised everyone with a few unique performances at the Golden Swing, where he took home his first trophy in Argentina. Actually born in Argentina, the Italian spent some time there before relocating to Italy with his family, where he currently resides.

Despite his outstanding performance this week, which included some noteworthy victories, playing Zverev was a bit too much for him. The Germa is excellent on clay, something that many people overlook, but he is not a fan of the new two-week ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome.

He played so well that a few years ago, he may have won the Roland Garros if he hadn’t hurt himself against Rafael Nadal. Even though the crowd was largely against him, he demonstrated his ability in this bout.

Due to his superior clay-court skills, Darderi forced Zverev to a tie-break in the first set. The main issue facing the Italian was his lack of self-assuredness.

He generally plays aggressive tennis and likes to attack, but Zverev overmatched him from the baseline. The German had twice as many winners in that opening set and didn’t allow a single break point.

Darderi saved the only one he allowed but was beaten 7-3 in the tie-break. Once he found an opening, Zverev was able to take over completely. Darderi couldn’t really keep up the solid play in the second set, as he started to miss a bit more, and the German was just too wrong.

He broke, taking a 5-2 lead, and then he broke once more to finish things off, winning the second set 6-2. It was a really solid outing for Zverev, who avoided a long match, which could have complicated things for him moving forward.