Francesco Passaro (born 7 January 2001) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 89 achieved on 17 February 2025 and a doubles ranking of No. 256, reached on 20 February 2023.

Passaro plays mostly on the ATP Challenger Tour, where he has won three titles in singles.

Career

2021: ATP debut

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

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

In April 2022, playing as a qualifier, Passaro reached his first ATP Challenger final at the Sanremo Challenger, where he was defeated by top-seed Holger Rune in three sets.

The next month, he made his Masters debut at the Italian Open in Rome as a wildcard.

At the Mediterranean Games in Oran, Algeria, Passaro won the gold medal in men's singles and, with Matteo Arnaldi, the gold medal in men's doubles. He thus shares the record of winning both the singles and doubles titles at the same Mediterranean Games edition with Konstantinos Oikonomidis (2001 Tunis), Nicolás Almagro (2005 Almería), and Blaž Rola (2013 Mersin).

Passaro won his first Challenger title in July 2022 at the Internazionali di Trieste. With this trophy, he became the 20th #NextGenATP winner that season. As a result, he entered top 150, with a singles ranking of world No. 144.

Passaro 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

Passaro received a wildcard for the Chile Open in Santiago. He also entered the main draw at the 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, Passaro 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 and first top-20 win, following the retirement of tenth seed Grigor Dimitrov due to a hip injury, and moved into the top 100 in the singles rankings at world No. 90 on 27 January 2025. He again defeated Dimitrov, his second top-20 win, at the 2025 Italian Open, to reach back-to-back third rounds at his home Masters.

Performance timeline

Key
WFSFQF#RRRQ#DNQANH

Singles

Current through the 2026 Chile Open.

Tournament20222023202420252026W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian OpenAQ2Q22R1–1
French OpenAQ1A1R0–1
WimbledonAQ1Q1Q10–0
US OpenQ2Q1Q21R0–1
Win–loss0–00–00–01–30–01–3
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells OpenAQ2AA0–0
Miami OpenAAAA0–0
Monte-Carlo MastersAAAA0–0
Madrid OpenAQ1AA0–0
Italian Open1R1R3R3R4–4
Canadian OpenAAAA0–0
Cincinnati OpenAAAA0–0
Shanghai MastersAAAA0–0
Paris MastersAAAA0–0
Win–loss0–10–12–12–10–04–4

ATP Challenger Tour finals

Singles: 9 (3 titles, 6 runner-ups)

Legend
Legend ATP Challenger Tour (3–6)Finals by surface Hard (–) Clay (3–6)
ATP Challenger Tour (3–6)
Finals by surface
Hard (–)
Clay (3–6)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss0–1Apr 2022Sanremo Challenger, ItalyChallengerClayDenmark Holger Rune1–6, 6–2, 4–6
Loss0–2Jun 2022Forlì Open, ItalyChallengerClayItaly Lorenzo Musetti6–2, 3–6, 2–6
Loss0–3Jun 2022Aspria Tennis Cup, ItalyChallengerClayArgentina Federico Coria6–7(2–7), 4–6
Win1–3Jul 2022Internazionali Città di Trieste, ItalyChallengerClayChina Zhang Zhizhen4–6, 6–3, 6–3
Loss1–4Sep 2022Città di Como Challenger, ItalyChallengerClayGermany Cedrik-Marcel Stebe6–7(2–7), 4–6
Loss1–5Jul 2023Internazionali Città di Trieste, ItalyChallengerClayFrance Hugo Gaston3–6, 7–5, 2–6
Win2–5May 2024Piemonte Open, ItalyChallengerClayItaly Lorenzo Musetti6–3, 7–5
Win3–5Sep 2024AON Open, ItalyChallengerClaySpain Jaume Munar7–5, 6–3
Loss3–6Nov 2024Maia Challenger, PortugalChallengerClay (i)Bosnia and Herzegovina Damir Džumhur3–6, 4–6

Doubles: 3 (3 runner-ups)

Legend
Legend ATP Challenger Tour (0–3)Finals by surface Hard (0–1) Clay (0–2)
ATP Challenger Tour (0–3)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–1)
Clay (0–2)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss0–1May 2022Internazionali Città di Vicenza, ItalyChallengerClayItaly Matteo GiganteArgentina Francisco Comesaña Italy Luciano Darderi3–6, 6–7(4–7)
Loss0–2Feb 2023Tenerife Challenger II, SpainChallengerHardItaly Matteo GiganteUnited States Christian Harrison Japan Shintaro Mochizuki4–6, 3–6
Loss0–3Sep 2023Layjet Open, AustriaChallengerClayItaly Marco BortolottiGermany Hendrik Jebens Germany Constantin Frantzen1–6, 2–6

ITF World Tennis Tour finals

Singles: 5 (3 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Legend
Legend ITF WTT (3–2)Finals by surface Hard (1–1) Clay (2–1)
ITF WTT (3–2)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–1)
Clay (2–1)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss0–1Jul 2019M15 Gubbio, ItalyWTTClayArgentina Gonzalo Villanueva5–7, 2–6
Win1–1Apr 2021M15 Cairo, EgyptWTTClayItaly Giacomo Dambrosi6–1, 6–4
Win2–1Aug 2021M15 Xàtiva, SpainWTTClaySpain Iñaki Montes de la Torre2–6, 6–1, 6–4
Loss2–2Jan 2022M15 Monastir, TunisiaWTTHardItaly Mattia Bellucci4–6, 5–7
Win3–2Feb 2022M15 Monastir, TunisiaWTTHardFrance Térence Atmane7–6(7–3), 6–2

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

Legend
Legend ITF WTT (3–1)Finals by surface Hard (–) Clay (3–1)
ITF WTT (3–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (–)
Clay (3–1)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss0–1Mar 2019M15 Murcia, SpainWTTClayItaly Lorenzo BocchiSpain Eduard Esteve Lobato Spain Álvaro López San Martín4–6, 4–6
Win1–1Apr 2021M15 Cairo, EgyptWTTClayItaly Daniele CapecchiUnited Kingdom Luke Johnson Ukraine Volodymyr Uzhylovskyi7–5, 6–4
Win2–1Aug 2021M15 Xàtiva, SpainWTTClaySpain Imanol López MorilloSpain Alberto Barroso Campos Spain Benjamín Winter López6–4, 6–4
Win3–1Oct 2021M15 Madrid, SpainWTTClaySpain Carlos López MontagudFrance Lucas Bouquet North Macedonia Stefan Micov6–0, 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.
Season2025Total
Wins11
#PlayerRkEventSurfaceRdScoreRkRef
2025
1.Bulgaria Grigor Dimitrov10Australian Open, AustraliaHard1R7–5, 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

External links