Last year, the 34-year-old who's been scrapping as a pro for 16 years while having to deal with a litany of injury setbacks, enjoyed his best result of his 2025 season at the Almaty Open, reaching the semi-finals of the indoor hard-court event.
It was a run that kicked off a rejuvenation of his battling career with 'Ducks' having since surged back into the top-100 and become comfortably Australia's No.2 men's player behind Alex de Minaur, with the prospect of moving up to at least No.68 in next week's rankings.
What a performance 😳 James Duckworth hits 17 aces to take down No. 2 seed Darderi, 7-5 7-6, and reach the last eight! #AlmatyOpen https://t.co/Vrb0Ia44Ab— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 21, 2026
And once again Almaty, Kazakhstan's biggest city, seems to have inspired him as he earned his best victory of the year, a had-fought 7-5 7-6 (9-7) triumph over second seed Luciano Darderi, Italy's world No.23 who's ranked 50 places ahead of Duckworth on the ATP computer.
"First of all, the tournament is unbelievable," enthused Duckworth, whose only ATP final appearance also came in this Kazakhstan event back in 2021 when it was staged in the capital, Astana.
"You get so well looked after - the hospitality, the food, all the massage therapists, the player desk, everyone's so helpful and so friendly ... and got great coffee here as well!
"I really enjoy coming back and I like playing indoors first of all, when we're at a little bit of altitude. That's some of the best conditions for me. They both go a long way to contribute to me playing well."
It was, indeed, another fine win, studded with 37 winners and 17 aces behind a dominant first serve that helped win him 44 of 50 points and it's now thrust Duckworth into a second ATP quarter-final in two months after a bit of a lean spell.
He enjoyed his best tournament of the season when reaching the semi-finals of another 250 event in Winston-Salem in August, but had subsequently lost four matches in a row until returning this week to Almaty.
Last year, he also pulled off a notable 'Italian job' there when he defeated Flavio Cobolli, his highest-ranked victim of the whole season at world No.22, in the quarters.
He'll now be looking to do the same in this edition in Friday's last-eight, faced by resurgent Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who looked in ominously good form as he needed just over an hour to dismantle local veteran Mikhail Kukushkin 6-1 6-2.
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