Luciano Darderi is not a bad player. He is just 23 years old and has ranked as high as No. 32 on the ATP tour. He has a solid forehand and a good serve. What he lacks currently, besides the elite ability of Carlos Alcaraz, is the high tennis IQ it takes to beat the best.
He didn't have too many chances in the first couple of sets to take advantage of a situation in his third-round match at the 2025 US Open against Alcaraz. The first set quickly disappeared in a 6-2 Alcaraz beatdown. Darderi was broken early in the second set, too.
By trying to get back even on serve, Darderi had a chance to put a game away. Alcaraz hit a return that was short. Darderi had plenty of time to approach, and with the Spaniard wide to his right and with most of the court open in front of him, Darderi decided to hit the ball toward Alcaraz, who simply blocked the shot back into the open court to even the game.
Carlos Alcaraz moves into the fourth round at the 2025 US Open with a victory against Luciano Darderi
It was the kind of shot that Darderi cannot afford against one of the best two players of his generation. Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are the best players on tour for many reasons, but an important one is that they don't normally defeat themselves, even though they sometimes (mostly Alcaraz) take chances.
Still, Darderi was able to magically get a break of Alcaraz later in the second set. It might have been enough to give the Italian some real hope. It shouldn't have. Alcaraz got his own break and was able to hold easily to take set two 6-4.
The third set appeared to be a whitewash, as the Spaniard got an early break of Darderi and led 3-0. The crowd could have been excused for going on a walk around the US Open complex at this point. The match was done.
After all, Carlos Alcaraz has never lost a best-of-five match when winning the first two sets. Luciano Darderi was in no position to change that. The Spaniard got another break at 3-0 in set three, and the chances of the Italian winning a game in the final set were almost as slim as his still having a chance to win the match.
In the final set, Darderi wouldn't win a game. Alcaraz raced out to a 0-40 lead with the Italian serving and the Spaniard leading 5-0. Darderi fought back to deuce, but he was wiped. Alcaraz finished with a break and won set three 6-0.
Carlos Alcaraz will next play the winner of the Arthur Rinderknech and Benjamin Bonzi match (which was trending toward Rinderknech) in the fourth round. Beyond that, Ben Shelton might loom in the quarterfinals for the Spaniard.