Passaro Second Italian To Qualify For Milan

ATP Tour

Francesco Passaro will look to thrill his home fans in Milan next month after qualifying for the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals.

The Italian is the seventh player to earn his spot in the eight-player field at the 21-and-under season finale, which will be played at the Allianz Cloud from 8-12 November. Only one place remains at the event, which will also feature Lorenzo Musetti, Holger Rune, Jack Draper, Brandon Nakashima, Jiri Lehecka and Chun-Hsin Tseng.

This will be the first time two Italians — Musetti and Passaro — compete in the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in the same edition. Italian Jannik Sinner won the tournament in 2019.

Passaro began the season outside the Top 600 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, but has soared as high as World No. 122. He reached the final at ATP Challenger Tour events in Sanremo and Forli as a qualifier, then advanced to another championship match at that level in Milan before claiming his first Challenger trophy in Trieste.

The 21-year-old earned his first tour-level match win earlier this month in Florence, where he defeated Zhang Zhizhen. Passaro then qualified for another ATP Tour event the following week in Naples.