Francesco Passaro vs Pedro Martinez Prediction & Betting Tips - Hong Kong Open

Prediction published on 30/12/2024, 08:38  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 30/12/2024 at 09:39 in Tennis Predictions

Seventh seed Pedro Martinez faces the challenge of qualifier Francesco Passaro in round one of the Hong Kong Open. Next up for the winner will be either Juncheng Shang or Coleman Wong. Here's our match prediction.

Andrey Rublev is the defending champion in this outdoor hard court tournament. He's the scheduled quarter-final for these two players if they can get that far. Martinez is the world number 43, four places below the career-high he achieved in October 2024.

The Spaniard has lost his last three matches, most recently being beaten by Pierre-Hugues Herbert in Metz. His last major success came on clay when he won a Challenger Tour event in Valencia.  At the start of 2024 he did get to a Challenger Tour hard court final in Tenerife.

Francesco Passaro is the world number 108 and had to qualify to reach this main draw. The Italian had to go to three sets in both his qualifiers. In the final round, he had to come from behind to defeat Denis Yevseyev. The wins have taken him to a career-high 105th in the live rankings.

Passaro is also a player who has achieved his best results on clay.but did beat Martinez in the Australian Open qualifiers but lost twice to him on clay. We go for over 20.5 games.