Italian Open 2025: Grigor Dimitrov vs Francesco Passaro preview, head-to-head, odds, prediction, and pick

Match Details

Fixture: (14) Grigor Dimitrov vs (WC) Francesco Passaro

Date: May 9, 2025

Tournament: Italian Open

Round: Second Round (Round of 64)

Venue: Foro Italico, Rome, Italy

Surface: Clay

Category: ATP Masters 1000

Prize Money: €8,055,385

Live Telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Sky Sports | Canada - TSN

Grigor Dimitrov vs Francesco Passaro preview

Fourteenth seed Grigor Dimitrov will face Italian wildcard Francesco Passaro in the second round of the 2025 Italian Open. Dimitrov has had an average season, having a 14-8 win/loss record, as injuries have seen the Bulgarian suffer multiple retirements. He began the year with a semifinal run at the Brisbane International but had to retire against Jiri Lehecka. He also reached the semifinals of the Miami Open, losing 2-6, 3-6 to Novak Djokovic.

Dimitrov has fared well on clay so far, reaching the quarterfinals in Monte-Carlo, where he was blown away 0-6, 0-6 by Alex de Minaur. He also reached the fourth round at the Madrid Open, losing 7-5, 6-7 (7), 4-6 to Canadian lucky loser Gabriel Diallo. Being the seeded player, received a bye in the opening round in Rome.

Meanwhile, Francesco Passaro has played only three matches in 2025, winning one. Incidentally, that victory came against Dimitrov in the first round of the Australian Open, where the Bulgarian had to retire in the second set. Passaro lost to Benjamin Bonzithe 2-6, 4-6, 6-3, 4-6 in the next round.

Passaro has not played on the Tour since March. His last event was the Naples Challenger, where he bowed out of the first round, losing 7-6 (6), 3-6, 5-7 to Elias Ymer.

Grigor Dimitrov vs Francesco Passaro head-to-head

The head-to-head is 1-0 in favor of Passaro as the Italian won the last encounter against Dimitrov via retirement at this year's Australian Open.

Grigor Dimitrov vs Francesco Passaro odds

Plyer Name	Moneyline	Handicap Bets	Total Games
Grigor Dimitrov	-625	TBD	TBD
Francesco Passaro	+400	TBD	TBD

(Odds are sourced from BetMGM)

Grigor Dimitrov vs Francesco Passaro prediction

Dimitrov has reached three claycourt finals in his career, the last of which came at the 2023 Geneva Open. His only title on the surface came at the 2014 Romanian Open, where he beat Lukas Rasool 7-6 (2), 6-1 in the final. He's a former semifinalist in Rome, losing 2-6, 2-6 against Rafael Nadal back in 2014.

Passaro, on the other hand, has just started his ATP career, playing less than 30 matches so far on the Tour. The Italian has no titles on the main Tour yet, but he has three claycourt titles on the Challenger Tour, the last of which came in Genoa last year, where he won 7-5, 6-3 against Jaume Munar in the final.

Dimitrov is the favorite for this match as he is the higher-ranked player and will be playing Passaro fully fit this time.

Pick- Dimitrov to win in straight sets

About the author

Sagnik, a Mass Communication and Journalism graduate, is a tennis journalist at Sportskeeda. Before finding his spot in the tennis writing team, he worked as a junior content specialist for academic content writing firms for a couple of years.

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When not writing about tennis and technically analyzing the sport, which he believes are his 'forte', Sagnik indulges in reading books.

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Edited by Samya Majumdar