Luciano Darderi will begin his hard-court season at the ATP 250 event in Los Cabos, Mexico, where he has been awarded the No. 2 seed.
The Mifel Tennis Open by Telcel Oppo, celebrating its 10th edition, sees the 24-year-old Italian as second favourite behind top seed Jiri Lehecka. Darderi, who finished the clay-court portion of the season with three finals appearances and one title, uses the Mexican tournament to prepare for the North American hard-court swing with a goal of returning to the top 20.
In the draw, Darderi anchors the bottom half and receives a first-round bye. He will face either Dalibor Svrcina or Adam Walton in his opener. A quarter-final meeting with defending champion Denis Shapovalov is possible; the Canadian begins his title defence against Rinky Hijikata. The projected semi-final is against Karen Khachanov, who could face Cameron Norrie in the quarter-finals.
