{"id":438855,"date":"2026-01-26T16:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T16:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/438855\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T16:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T16:33:10","slug":"jannik-sinner-def-luciano-darderi-in-fourth-round-darderi-blows-up-and-hits-ball-into-outer-space-latest-tennis-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/438855\/","title":{"rendered":"Jannik Sinner def Luciano Darderi in fourth round, Darderi blows up and hits ball into outer space, latest tennis news"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner sealed his place in the Australian Open quarter-finals with a straight-sets dismissal of fellow Italian Luciano Darderi in the Melbourne heat on Monday. <\/p>\n<p>Sinner raced to a 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (7\/2) victory and faces United States eighth seed Ben Shelton or Norway\u2019s 12th-seeded Casper Ruud for a place in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n<p>UFC 325: Volkanovski vs Lopes 2 | SUN 1 FEB 1PM AEDT | For the first time in his storied career, UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski will defend his championship in his home city of Sydney, in a rematch with Brazil\u2019s Diego Lopes. | <a href=\"https:\/\/mainevent.kayosports.com.au\/ufc\/ufc-325?pg=default&amp;extcamp=fsaeditoriallinkmma-edt-fsp-lnk-awr-grc-mma-kyo&amp;channel=fsa&amp;campaign=fsacontra&amp;voucher=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768365730_454_poster-fallback.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The world number two is bidding to win the Melbourne crown for a third time in a row, something only Novak Djokovic has done in the Open era (since 1968). <\/p>\n<p>Djokovic and Sinner are on course for a blockbuster last-four showdown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was very difficult, we are good friends off the court,\u201d Sinner said of the hard-hitting Darderi, who put up some late resistance. <\/p>\n<p>Sinner told Margaret Court Arena, where temperatures hovered around 30C in the early evening: \u201cIt was difficult to put the match away, happy I closed it in three sets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sinner sent down a bumper 19 aces in the match, and said his hard work had paid off. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor sure I feel more confident (on serve). Still room to improve but happy how I have come back in the new season,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Aus Open ends poorly for Kyrgios | 00:43<\/p>\n<p>Sinner, 24, admits he struggles in the heat and he dropped a set in his previous match, against Eliot Spizzirri of the United States. <\/p>\n<p>But normal service resumed against Darderi, the 22nd seed who was in the fourth round of a major for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>The 23-year-old appeared overawed by the occasion, winning just nine points in falling 4-0 down in the first.<\/p>\n<p>Sinner streaked ahead 5-0 in barely 20 minutes of one-sided action before Darderi got on the board.<\/p>\n<p>Inglis&#8217; FUNNY game winner celebration | 00:35<\/p>\n<p>It was only a temporary respite in the first match ever between the pair, Sinner sealing the set in 27 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Darderi made a better fist of the second set, winning his first service game, but was then broken as his frustrations boiled over. <\/p>\n<p>He slammed his racquet to the floor and whacked a ball into the crowd, earning a warning from the chair umpire.<\/p>\n<p>Luciano Darderi prepares to send a ball into orbit.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n<p>The third set was much closer, Sinner saving four break points in the ninth game and the two exchanging heavy groundstrokes.<\/p>\n<p>Sinner held for 5-4 and Darderi then saved two match points as he doggedly stayed alive and forced a tiebreak.<\/p>\n<p>Darderi forged a 2-0 lead, then play was interrupted by a crying baby, and Sinner rattled off the next seven points without reply to finally break his opponent\u2019s resolve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner sealed his place in the Australian Open quarter-finals with a straight-sets dismissal of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,85,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-438855","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}