Italy's Luciano Darderi will be the sole Italian representative and the No. 2 seed at this week's ATP 250 event in Los Cabos, Mexico, as the Mifel Tennis Open by Telcel Oppo celebrates its 10th edition. The 24-year-old heads the bottom half of the draw behind top seed Jiri Lehecka, with the tournament serving as his first hard-court outing of the North American summer swing.
Darderi arrives in Mexico after a highly productive European clay-court season that yielded three finals appearances and one title. The world No. 36 will look to build on that momentum as he targets a return to the top 20 and prepares for the upcoming hard-court events on the ATP calendar.
As the second seed, Darderi receives a first-round bye and will begin his campaign against either Czech qualifier Dalibor Svrcina or Australian Adam Walton. The quarter-finals could bring a rematch with defending champion Denis Shapovalov, who opens against Rinky Hijikata. The Canadian left-hander lifted the trophy in Los Cabos last year and will be bidding to retain his crown.
The projected semi-final opponent for the Italian is fourth seed Karen Khachanov. The Russian's path includes a likely quarter-final against British No. 5 seed Cameron Norrie, provided Norrie navigates his opening match against last year's finalist Aleksandar Kovacevic.
Top seed Jiri Lehecka anchors the top half and awaits the winner between Coleman Wong and Next Gen talent Darwin Blanch, the 18-year-old American who qualified through the ATP's Next Gen Accelerator Programme. Blanch, ranked No. 225, makes his sixth main-draw appearance at tour level. The programme, introduced by the ATP, grants top under-20 players entry into tour-level events to ease the transition from junior to professional tennis.
Other notable names in the draw include sixth seed Corentin Moutet, who faces Jenson Brooksby in round one, and seventh seed Martin Landaluce, who takes on Michael Zheng. Wild cards were awarded to Grigor Dimitrov — setting up a generational showdown with 17-year-old Moise Kouame — and local teenager Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez.
The Los Cabos ATP 250 runs from July 27 through August 2 on the hard courts of the Cabo Sports Complex.
Sources
- [Ubitennis](https://www.ubitennis.com/blog/2026/07/26/atp-los-cabos-il-tabellone-lehecka-guida-il-seeding-ce-anche-darderi/)
