After Casper Ruud won his first Masters 1000 title in Madrid, the ATP Tour moves to Rome for the last clay Masters 1000 of the season. The first round begins Wednesday, without the seeds yet, but still with plenty of interesting matchups in prospect. It should be a great day of tennis in the Italian capital to kickstart the tournament.
ATP Rome Day 1 Predictions
Francesco Passaro vs Chun Hsin Tseng
Head-to-head: Tseng 1-0 Passaro
Ranking-wise, this is the closest match of this round, with #101 taking on #102. As the rankings suggest, it should be a really close match and it is very hard to call which way it will go. Tseng played really good tennis to make it through qualifying but Passaro’s home court advantage might well be the difference maker in such a close matchup.
Prediction: Passaro in 3
Daniel Altmaier vs Francisco Comesana
Head-to-head: Altmaier 1-0 Comesana
Altmaier won a long five setter when the pair faced at the Australian Open this year, but both of these players play their best stuff on clay so this should be a considerably higher quality match. Comesana has been playing at a really good level on clay this year and could well get revenge on Altmaier for the loss in Australia.
Prediction: Comesana in 3
Hamad Medjedovic vs Otto Virtanen
Head-to-head: Medjedovic 1-0 Virtanen
Virtanen played some good tennis to make it through qualifying and he definitely has the ability to cause problems to Medjedovic here, but the latter is the better and more talented player overall and should have the edge here, even if it should be quite a close encounter.
Prediction: Medjedovic in 3
Christopher O’Connell vs Cameron Norrie
Head-to-head: first meeting
Norrie is very far from the level that saw him reach the Top 10, win a Masters 1000, and reach a Slam semifinal, but he’s still a tough player to beat and on clay he should have the edge in this particular matchup, as O’Connell’s best results have all come on faster surfaces. While Norrie likely isn’t a threat to go far, he should pull through here.
Prediction: Norrie in 2
Main Photo Credit: Scott Taetsch-USA TODAY Sports
