Casper Ruud vs Luciano Darderi — SF — Italian Open

Three hours for a double-bagel-adjacent scoreline tells the story: Casper Ruud ground through a 183-minute war of long, grinding clay rallies and let the second-serve gap do the rest. The Norwegian won 63% of his second-serve points to just 23% for Luciano Darderi — a 40-point chasm that turned every short Darderi second ball into a return-point feast, with Ruud taking 20 of 26 (77%) second-serve return points. Darderi's 23 unforced errors to Ruud's 16, plus 6-of-9 break points converted, sealed a first career meeting that never tightened despite the clock. Ruud, leading the Italian Open H2H 1-0, advances to the final.