Luciano Darderi reached his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final after a bizarre night at the Italian Open, where his quarter-final with Rafael Jodar was stopped for almost 20 minutes because smoke from fireworks rolled across centre court. Darderi, ranked 20th, finally closed out a 7-6 (7-5) 5-7 6-0 victory after three hours eight minutes on court, finishing after 2am local time in Rome.
The match had not even begun until almost 11pm because rain earlier in the day delayed many contests at Foro Italico. Once it started, Jodar led 6-5 in the opening set when thick smoke descended over the court, cutting visibility so badly that play had to be paused and the electronic line-calling system was also disrupted.
The interruption came during celebrations after Inter Milan's Coppa Italia triumph at the Stadio Olimpico, about 500 metres away. Inter's 2-0 win over Lazio sent fireworks into the sky, and the smoke drifted across the tennis complex at the worst possible moment for two players already waiting deep into the night.
When play resumed, Darderi found a way through a match that kept swinging. He forced nine break points and took three in the deciding set, then overwhelmed Jodar 6-0 in the third to seal the result and move on to face Norway's Casper Ruud in the semi-finals. Darderi later called it the best win of his career.
The defeat will sting for Jodar, but only because it came so close after another rapid rise. Less than a year ago he was ranked outside the top 700; now he is 34 in the world, and he pushed a seeded player to the brink in one of the strangest matches Rome has seen this week. Darderi, though, was the one still standing after the smoke cleared, the rain delays passed and the clock slipped past 2am.
