With the title on the line, Luciano Darderi cut through the tie-break tension to triumph Sunday at the Grand Prix Hassan II.
The Italian defeated top seed Tallon Griekspoor 7-6(3), 7-6(4) in the championship match at the clay-court ATP 250. Darderi delivered a rock-solid performance to nullify his opponent’s powerful game and secure his second tour-level title after his victory in Cordoba in 2024.
Darderi endured a difficult start to 2025. He arrived in Marrakech with a 2-8 tour-level record for the season, although he began to show signs of his best form with a run to the final at an ATP Challenger Tour event in Naples last week. Competing as the seventh seed in Marrakech, he dropped just one set all week, and on Monday he will rise nine spots to No. 48 in the PIF ATP Rankings.
“The past months were really difficult for me, but I fought every day for this moment,” said Darderi. “It is my second title. My first time in Marrakech, it’s an amazing place. I’m very happy and I have to say thank you to all the Italians here and all the people watching. It is very nice to play with this atmosphere.”
“Tallon is an amazing player. You never know what’s going to happen,” said Darderi. “7-6, 7-6 is really tough. It was a really difficult match, but I’m really happy about today.”
Darderi is the second Italian to lift the trophy in Marrakech in as many years, after Matteo Berrettini won in 2024. It is a two-title Sunday for Italians on the ATP Tour: Flavio Cobolli earlier won a clay-court trophy of his own at the Tiriac Open presented by UniCredit Bank in Bucharest.
Defeat in Sunday’s final meant Griekspoor fell just short of completing the full ‘surface set’ of winning ATP Tour trophies on hard, grass and clay. The Dutchman can nonetheless reflect on a productive week in Marrakech, where he continued the form that took him to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final in Indian Wells last month.
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