Italian Open 2025: Leylah Fernandez vs Antonia Ruzic preview, head-to-head, odds, prediction, and pick

Match Details

Fixture: (24) Leylah Fernandez vs (Q) Antonia Ruzic

Date: May 9, 2025

Tournament: Italian Open 2025

Round: Second Round (Round of 64)

Venue: Foro Italico, Rome, Italy

Surface: Clay

Category: WTA 1000

Prize Money: €6,009,593

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

Leylah Fernandez vs Antonia Ruzic preview

24th-seeded Leylah Fernandez will play her opening match against Croatian qualifier Antonia Ruzic at the 2025 Italian Open. 2025 has not been a good season for Fernandez, as she has a 10-9 record in the year. Her best result was reaching the quarterfinal of the Abu Dhabi Open, losing 5-7, 6-4, 2-6 against Ashlyn Krueger.

Barring that result in Abu Dhabi, Fernandez had decent third-round runs at the Australian Open and at the Qatar Open. She lost 4-6, 2-6 against Coco Gauff in Melbourne and lost 3-6, 0-6 against eventual champion Amanda Anisimova in Doha. She began her clay season in Madrid, losing 4-6, 6-3, 4-6 against Ann Li in the first round. Being a seeded player, she received an opening-round bye in Rome.

Antonia Ruzic has only one victory on the main Tour in 2025, winning her first-round match 6-3, 6-4 against Mayar Sheriff at the Linz Open. She has done well on the ITF circuit, winning two titles and reaching the semifinal of another event. She played at the Madrid Open but failed to get past the qualifying rounds, losing 2-6, 6-3, 4-6 against Jana Fett.

At the Italian Open, Ruzic won 6-3, 6-4 against Yue Yuan and 6-3, 6-3 against Julie Niemeir to enter the main draw. She won her first-round match 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 against Tyra Caterina Grant.

Leylah Fernandez vs Antonia Ruzic head-to-head

This will be the first meeting between the two players on the WTA Tour.

Leylah Fernandez vs Antonia Ruzic odds

Player Name	Moneyline	Handicap Bets	Total Games
Leylah Fernandez	-165	TBD	TBD
Antonia Ruzic	+130	TBD	TBD

(Odds are sourced from BetMGM)

Leylah Fernandez vs Antonia Ruzic prediction

Clay is the weaker surface for Fernandez, as she has a mere 46 percent win record on the surface. She has not reached a clay-court final in her career on the WTA, Challenger, or ITF Tour as of yet. Her one notable clay-court performance was reaching the quarterfinals at the 2022 French Open, losing 2-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6 against Martina Trevisan.

Ruzic has two clay-court titles from four finals on the ITF Tour, the last of which came in 2022 in Darmstadt with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Irina Khromacheva in the final. Her last clay court final was at the ITF event in Serbia in 2023, which she lost 3-6, 3-6 against Lina Gjorcheska.

Fernandez is the favorite in this match, as she is the seeded player and has the experience of playing on the biggest stages on the Tour.

Pick- Fernandez 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.

Before putting out any information in the public domain, Sagnik makes sure that every element of his content is well-researched and backed with credible data so that there is no misinterpretation of facts or quotes and ethical standards are maintained. To do so, Sagnik follows reputed websites like the Tennis Channel and Tennis TV, and renowned journalists on social media.

He is a fan of former player Roger Federer, and just like his favorite player, Sagnik likes to bring perfection to his write-ups by providing concise and on-point content. Speaking of the ‘GOAT’ debate, Sagnik believes that it is a bit unfair to compare the legends of the game from different eras who have played on different terms. But if he were to pick one, he’d go for Novak Djokovic based on his tally of 24 Grand Slam titles.

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 Tushhita Barua