The Canadian Open was surprisingly wide open for Brandon Nakashima and Luciano Darderi after several top players withdrew with injuries. Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz lost. The Masters event was likely to have a surprise winner unless Ben Shelton found a way to repeat.
Darderi would be the more stunning winner, though. He was a clay-court specialist who wasn't overly successful on hard courts. He had only played in Canada once before and didn't make it out of the first round. That he reached the quarterfinal in 2026 was a victory unto itself.
As for his opponent, Nakashima had the game to do well on hard courts. The American has a massive serve and good enough groundstrokes to get himself out of trouble when he needed to. His quarterfinal appearance, though, was his best performance at any Masters event in his career.
Brandon Nakashima defeats Luciano Darderi to reach the semifinals of the Canadian Open
In the first set, Darderi kept making unforced errors while Nakashima served confidently. The American took the set 6-2, and the match didn't feel overly close. The Italian was also getting angrier at himself, smashing his racket at one point.
In the second set. Darderi put himself in better positions to get breaks but could never quite come through. Each player managed to hold until Darderi was serving at 3-4, and Nakashima got the break. He then only needed to hold to reach the semifinals. He only lost a point to win the set 6-3.
The two biggest differences in the match were Luciano Darderi's unforced errors (he had 22 and just nine winners, while Nakashima had only 10 unforced errors and 15 winners) and the American's serve. Nakashima finished with 11 aces and only one double fault. Darderi had a terrible ratio of two aces and six double faults.
Next for Brandon Nakashima in the Canadian Open semifinals will be the winner of the match between Rafael Jodar and Arthur Fils, two rising stars on the ATP Tour. With the victory over Darderi, the American has moved up to No. 25 in the ATP live rankings.
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