Italian Next Gen player Francesco Passaro beat Zhang Zhizhen 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (8-6) to win the first match of his career on the ATP Tour at the UniCredit Firenze Open. With this victory Passaro has boosted his chance of qualifying for the Next Gen ATP Finals
Passaro is currently ranked ninth in the ATP Race to Milan with a lead of 71 points over 10th placer Dominic Stricker. The Italian player is just 29 points behind eighth placed Chun-Hsin Tsen from Chinese Taipei.
Passaro saved two break points in the second game to hold serve. Both players went on serve until the tie-break. Zhang Zhizhen earned a minini-break after a double fault from Passaro. The young Italian player broke back to draw level to 2-2. Passaro got a second mini-break and sealed, when Zhang Zhizhen hit a forehand long.
Zhang Zhizhen earned an early mini-break in the tie-break of the second set with his forehand, but Passaro pulled back on serve on the sixth point to draw level to 3-3. Both players traded mini-breaks on the seventh and eighth points. Passaro fended off a set point at 5-6 with a big serve out . The home player earned a match point with an ace and converted it with a backhand return after 1 hour and 40 minutes
Passaro will take on either Mackenzie McDonald or Jenson Brooksby.
“Of course for me it’s an amazing day. My first ATP match win, so I am very happy. I am now focused on the next round and I am hhungry to win the match and to go up the ATP Rankings. Now I will go to rest and tomorrow I will practice”, said Passaro.
