P. Martinez b. [WC] F. Passaro 6-4 6-1
The first ATP match played by in nine months goes badly Francesco Passaro, n. 224 in the ranking, in a crisis of results after the best ranking at no. 108 from a year ago. Extremely inconsistent during the hour and forty minutes of her debut performance at the Movistar Chile Open, the Italian wild card surrendered at no. 101 Pedro Martinez.
6-4 6-1 the score in favor of the twenty-six year old Spaniard, who is also not in great shape after that 40th place achieved in May 2022, but with several signs of recovery from the end of last season. An initially uncertain first set with several games to the advantage turned towards Spain and from there it was all downhill: nine games to one the partial suffered by Passaro who struggled to keep the ball on the court.
It was in Santiago that Martinez lifted his only ATP trophy so far two years ago and on Monday in Chile he returned to win a major circuit match on clay after 53 weeks. He does it above all because of Francesco’s many errors, perhaps after having opened the court with the serve, perhaps even incapable of handling the ball at a thousand meters altitude. Pedro thus wins the unprecedented challenge at the main draw level of the Tour, but the two had already faced each other in the qualifiers of the last Australian Open with victory by Passaro and three years ago on the Parma clay.
First set – Unstable balance, then Martinez’s shot
Pedro starts off better, holding the serve at the start and breaking, taking advantage of four blue errors. Francesco quickly makes up for it, also taking advantage of the Spanish double fault at 30-40. The games are starting to get longer, every now and then there is a good idea usually behind a dampener, but rallies are characterized by errors even without looking for the point.
It doesn’t help the field and the Argentine referee Patricio Estevez is called several times to verify the sign and above all the playing surface, with related interventions by maintenance workers to remedy the holes caused by tennis players who persist in moving, changing direction and slipping. Martinez knows something about it: he reaches the drop shot placing the winning shot which earned him a return to 4 all, only to then get stuck and fall. He changes his shirt not so much because it got dirty, but rather because he picked up those three kilos of crushed brick which in the long run would be felt on the legs.
Pedro holds serve and comes back ahead, earning two set points in response in the next game. Once those were cancelled, Passaro concedes the external advantage with a drop that remains in his field and, following an excellent kick to the net, he is surprised by the response of a Martinez outside the frame: 6-4.
Second set – A couple of interlocutory games, then it ends
A very bad game by Francesco who makes a complete mistake when coming out of serve makes it 3-1 for Martinez who quickly consolidates, scoring a partial 13 points to 1. We realize that the match has been over for a while, we just have to wait for the referee’s announcement. For Pedro, second round against Diaz Acosta or Cachin.