# Francesco Passaro

Francesco Passaro (born 7 January 2001) is an Italian tennis player. He reached a career high ATP singles ranking of world No. 106 on 9 September 2024 and a doubles ranking of No. 256 on 20 February 2023.

## Career
### 2021: ATP debut

Passaro made his ATP main draw debut at the 2021 Emilia-Romagna Open after receiving a wildcard for the doubles main draw.

### 2022–23: Masters, NextGen Finals and top 150 debuts

He played his first ATP Challenger Tour final at the 2022 Sanremo Challenger and was defeated in three sets by the world No. 91 Holger Rune.
He made his Masters debut at the 2022 Italian Open in Rome as a wildcard.
He won his first Challenger in July 2022 in Trieste, Italy becoming the 20th #NextGenATP winner in 2022. As a result he reached a new career-high in the top 150 of world No. 144 on 25 July 2022.
He qualified for the 2022 Next Generation ATP Finals.
He reached a career high ranking of No. 108 on 13 February 2023.

### 2024–25: First Masters third round, Major & top 100 debuts

He received a wildcard for the 2024 Chile Open in Santiago. He also entered the main draw at the ATP Challenger 125, the 2024 Tennis Napoli Cup this time as an alternate, and reached the semifinals. As a result he returned to the top 200 in the rankings on 1 April 2024.
After reaching the main draw of his home Masters, the Italian Open, having received a wildcard for the qualifying competition, he defeated Arthur Rinderknech for his first Masters main draw win. Next, he reached the third round for the first time at a Masters level, defeating 23rd seed Tallon Griekspoor. Following lifting his second title at the 2024 Turin Challenger as a wildcard, with a win over top seed Lorenzo Musetti in the final, he returned to the top 150 in the rankings climbing more than 100 positions back in the rankings on 20 May 2024. He became the first player since Robin Soderling in 2009 (Sunrise) to defeat five Top 100 players en route to a Challenger trophy. A month later, he returned to the top 130 on 17 June 2024. After winning the Genoa Challenger, he returned to the top 110 at a new career-high of No. 106 on 9 September 2024.
Passaro made his Grand Slam main draw debut at the 2025 Australian Open as a lucky loser after the withdrawal of his compatriot Fabio Fognini. He recorded his first Grand Slam win following the retirement of tenth seed Grigor Dimitrov due to a hip injury, and moved into the top 100 in the singles rankings.

## Grand Slam performance timeline

Key :
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | P# | DNQ | A | Z# | PO | G | S | B | NMS | NTI | P | NH |

### Singles

| Tournament | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | W–L |
| Grand Slam tournaments ||||||
| Australian Open | A | Q2 | Q2 | 2R | 1–1 |
| French Open | A | Q1 | A | | 0–0 |
| Wimbledon | A | Q1 | Q1 | | 0–0 |
| US Open | Q2 | Q1 | Q2 | | 0–0 |
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| ATP World Tour Masters 1000 ||||||
| Indian Wells Open | A | Q2 | A | | 0–0 |
| Madrid Open | A | Q1 | A | | 0–0 |
| Italian Open | 1R | 1R | 3R | | 2–3 |
| Win–loss | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–3 |

## ATP Challenger Tour finals
### Singles: 9 (3 titles, 6 runner-ups)

* Legend
* ATP Challenger Tour (3–6)
* Finals by Surface
* Hard (0–0)
* Clay (3–6)
* Grass (0–0)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 0–1 | Apr 2022 | Sanremo, Italy | Challenger | Clay | Holger Rune | 1–6, 6–2, 4–6 |
| Loss | 0–2 | Jun 2022 | Forlì, Italy | Challenger | Clay | Lorenzo Musetti | 6–2, 3–6, 2–6 |
| Loss | 0–3 | Jun 2022 | Milan, Italy | Challenger | Clay | Federico Coria | 6–7$^{(2–7)}$, 4–6 |
| Win | 1–3 | Jul 2022 | Trieste, Italy | Challenger | Clay | Zhang Zhizhen | 4–6, 6–3, 6–3 |
| Loss | 1–4 | Sep 2022 | Como, Italy | Challenger | Clay | Cedrik-Marcel Stebe | 6–7$^{(2–7)}$, 4–6 |
| Loss | 1–5 | Jul 2023 | Trieste, Italy | Challenger | Clay | Hugo Gaston | 3–6, 7–5, 2–6 |
| Win | 2–5 | May 2024 | Turin, Italy | Challenger | Clay | Lorenzo Musetti | 6–3, 7–5 |
| Win | 3–5 | Sep 2024 | Genoa, Italy | Challenger | Clay | Jaume Munar | 7–5, 6–3 |
| Loss | 3–6 | Nov 2024 | Maia, Portugal | Challenger | Clay (i) | Damir Džumhur | 3–6, 4–6 |

### Doubles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

* Legend
* ATP Challenger Tour (0–3)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Loss | 0–1 | May 2022 | Vicenza, Italy | Clay | Matteo Gigante | Francisco Comesaña Luciano Darderi | 3–6, 6–7$^{(4–7)}$ |
| Loss | 0–2 | Feb 2023 | Tenerife II, Spain | Hard | Matteo Gigante | Christian Harrison Shintaro Mochizuki | 4–6, 3–6 |
| Loss | 0–3 | Sep 2023 | Bad Waltersdorf, Austria | Clay | Marco Bortolotti | Hendrik Jebens Constantin Frantzen | 1–6, 2–6 |

## ITF World Tennis Tour finals
### Singles: 5 (3 titles, 2 runner-ups)

* Legend
* ITF WTT (3–2)
* Finals by Surface
* Hard (1–1)
* Clay (2–1)
* Grass (0–0)
* Carpet (0–0)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 0–1 | Jul 2019 | M15 Gubbio, Italy | WTT | Clay | Gonzalo Villanueva | 5–7, 2–6 |
| Win | 1–1 | Apr 2021 | M15 Cairo, Egypt | WTT | Clay | Giacomo Dambrosi | 6–1, 6–4 |
| Win | 2–1 | Aug 2021 | M15 Xàtiva, Spain | WTT | Clay | Iñaki Montes de la Torre | 2–6, 6–1, 6–4 |
| Loss | 2–2 | Jan 2022 | M15 Monastir, Tunisia | WTT | Hard | Mattia Bellucci | 4–6, 5–7 |
| Win | 3–2 | Feb 2022 | M15 Monastir, Tunisia | WTT | Hard | Térence Atmane | 7–6$^{(7–3)}$, 6–2 |

### Doubles: 4 (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

* Legend
* ITF WTT (3–1)
* Finals by Surface
* Hard (0–0)
* Clay (3–1)
* Grass (0–0)
* Carpet (0–0)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Loss | 0–1 | Mar 2019 | M15 Murcia, Spain | WTT | Clay | Lorenzo Bocchi | Eduard Esteve Lobato Álvaro López San Martín | 4–6, 4–6 |
| Win | 1–1 | Apr 2021 | M15 Cairo, Egypt | WTT | Clay | Daniele Capecchi | Luke Johnson Volodymyr Uzhylovskyi | 7–5, 6–4 |
| Win | 2–1 | Aug 2021 | M15 Xàtiva, Spain | WTT | Clay | Imanol López Morillo | Alberto Barroso Campos Benjamín Winter López | 6–4, 6–4 |
| Win | 3–1 | Oct 2021 | M15 Madrid, Spain | WTT | Clay | Carlos Lopez Montagud | Lucas Bouquet Stefan Micov | 6–0, 6–3 |

## Wins against top 10 players

* Passaro has a 1–0 record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.
| Season | 2025 | Total |
| Wins | 1 | 1 |
| # | Player | Rk | Event | Surface | Rd | Score | Rk | Ref |
| 2025 |||||||||
| 1. | Grigor Dimitrov | 10 | Australian Open, Australia | Hard | 1R | 7–5, 2–1 ret. | 104 | |
* Key: (Rk) first use, opponent rank; (Rd) round; (Rk) 2nd use, player rank; (Ref) reference; (F) final; (SF) semifinal; (QF) quarterfinal; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage