Luciano Darderi will return to the court in Thursday's Vienna Open second round, two days after ending Dominic Thiem's career, as he battles Britain's No. 1 player Jack Draper.
Tuesday's victory ended the Italian's run of defeats, and he aims to take confidence from that success into facing the world No. 18.
Match preview
Despite playing in front of a one-sided crowd in round one, Darderi overcame Thiem 7-6(6), 6-2 to end his seven-match losing streak and call time on his opponent's career.
The Italian player's success hinged on a first-set tie-break that went his way despite trailing 3-0 and 5-2 before forcing the issue by executing commendably to notch six of the next seven points to edge the opening set.
Thiem, possibly downbeat after losing that set, could not sustain his first-set level, and the 22-year-old comfortably dispatched the home player in set two to advance to the tournament's last 16.
That triumph took Darderi to 24-23 for the season, with his recent struggles underscored by early exits across multiple tournaments before beating the 2020 US Open champion.
Facing the returning Draper will unquestionably pose greater challenges for the world No. 42, who enters Thursday's match as the underdog against the No. 1 British player.
Although Draper might have fallen to tight Davis Cup defeats to Francisco Cerundolo and Felix Auger-Aliassime in September after his US Open disappointment against eventual champion Jannik Sinner, three wins in his last four matches have seemingly put the world No. 18 back on track.
The 22-year-old's sole loss in that time was in Tokyo, where he trailed 7-5, 2-1 against Ugo Humbert before retiring due to an abdominal complaint.
Back after a month away, the one-time ATP Tour champion notched a hard-fought victory in round one to eliminate veteran Kei Nishikori 7-6(5), 7-5 to advance to a second match in Vienna.
He hopes to build on that success against an out-of-form player to secure a quarter-final spot against Grigor Dimitrov or Tomas Machac.
Tournament so far
Luciano Darderi:
First round: vs. Dominic Thiem 7-6[6] 6-2
Jack Draper:
First round: vs. Kei Nishikori 7-6(5) 7-5
Head To Head
Both players will be meeting for the first time on the ATP Tour, potentially making the encounter harder to call.
Darderi enters the match with a 24-23 win-loss record in 2024, a statistic Draper dwarfs with his 33-21 record this season.
We say: Draper to win in two sets
Although he defeated Thiem to snap a losing streak, the higher-ranked Draper will pose a sterner test than the retired Austrian, and the Briton is backed to dispatch the Italian and advance to the last eight in Vienna.
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