Darderi wins Santiago title, continuing clay dominance

  • Posted: Mar 02, 2026

Luciano Darderi won his fifth ATP Tour title Sunday with a battling victory in the BCI Seguros Chile Open final. Two weeks after falling short in the Buenos Aires final, the Argentine-born Italian defeated Yannick Hanfmann 7-6(6), 7-5 to claim the trophy on the red clay of the Santiago ATP 250.

Now 5-1 in ATP Tour finals, all on clay and all since 2024, Darderi owns the most tour-level clay titles of any player since the start of the 2024 season — breaking a tie with Carlos Alcaraz. He has also recorded 48 wins on clay in that period (second only to Francisco Cerundolo’s 49), including a 16-2 mark since July.

“It’s feeling really great. I didn’t expect to win this week here because I never played more than the quarter-final here, so I’m very happy,” the 24-year-old said before the trophy ceremony. “It’s my second final of the year, so taking a title early is very impressive and I take a lot of confidence for the rest of the year.”

Coupled with Flavio Cobolli’s title this week in Acapulco, Darderi’s triumph also marks the fifth time in the Open Era that two Italians have won a tour-level title in the same week. The pair also achieved the feat in March of 2025, when Darderi won Marrakech and Cobolli won Bucharest.

After taking a tight opening set in which he was two points from losing on three occasions, Darderi’s strong response after going a break down early re-established his control of the match. From 1-2, he won eight straight points to lead 3-2. Neither player faced another break point until Darderi broke serve in the final game, improving to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Hanfmann.

The German was seeking to become the third-oldest first-time ATP Tour champion at 34, but fell to 0-3 in tour-level finals. He hit 10 aces to Darderi’s six, according to Infosys ATP Stats, but struggled in the face of Darderi’s 80 per cent win rate on first serve.

Darderi, who entered the week at a career-high of No. 21 in the PIF ATP Rankings, gained an additional 200 points in the PIF ATP Live Rankings this week, moving within 66 points of the Top 20.

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