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In the final of the Cordoba Open featuring two qualifiers, the 21-year-old Luciano Darderi, the Argentine-born Italian, took full advantage of a nervous opponent, Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis who, aged 33, was not only carrying home hopes but chasing his maiden title on the ATP Tour.
Darderi was in full control, helped by the numerus errors flowing off the Bagnis racket in what was the only the third all-qualifier final on the ATP Tour since 1990.
Bagnis won just 12 of the first 47 points of the match as Darderi raced to a 6-1 2-0 lead in just 34 minutes.
At that point the match looked over but Bagnis managed to find some form as he recovered that early break and even went 4-3 ahead in the second set but failed to maintain his form, eventually capitulating in a six deuce game to allow Darderi to serve out afer 84-minutes, for a 6-1 6-4 victory for his maiden Tour title.
Darderi, who had won just one tour-level match before this week, is set to rise from 136 in the rankings and break into the top 100 at 76.
“I feel really good, I can’t believe I have won my first ATP title,” Darderi said. “Last week I lost in the [second] round of a Challenger (in Punta del Este, Uruguay).
“To come through from qualifying to win the title with my family here, my dad and my girlfriend, it’s so special. And to make a big move in the rankings.”
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