Fabio Fognini vs Jacob Fearnley Prediction 5/8/25 Rome Tennis Picks

Fabio Fognini and Jacob Fearnley meet in the first round of the 2025 Italian Open Rome on Thursday, May 8, 2025. Here’s our Fabio Fognini vs Jacob Fearnley prediction. This preview will also include a Fabio Fognini vs Jacob Fearnley pick.

Fabio Fognini Preview

Fabio Fognini is ranked 107th in the ATP rankings and will prepare for his 18th main draw appearance at the Italian Open in Rome. Despite making so many appearances in his home tournament, Fognini’s record leaves a lot to be desired. For a player of his talent and pedigree on clay, he has mustered just one quarterfinal as his best result and that was in 2018. Last year, he lost in the second round to Taylor Fritz and there is a spate of first-round exits in between. 

If Fognini was looking to address that record this week, then he’s unlikely to be successful. He’s won just three matches from eight tournaments and none in the main draw at Tour level. Last week, he lost to a 384th-ranked player at the Mauthausen Challenger, extending his losing streak in main draws to six. With a 2-5 win-loss tally on clay this season, Fognini has a lot of work to do to catch up with last year’s results where he won over 20 matches on the surface.

Jacob Fearnley Preview

Jacob Fearnley is one of the Tour’s rising stars. At only 23, and one of Britain’s most promising talents, Fearnley has enjoyed a decent start to his year on the main tour. Fearnley has compiled an 18-10 record in all competitions and is slowly making the step up to the ATP Tour from the Challengers where he dominated last year with four titles.

He’s coming off a respectable third-round appearance in Madrid as a qualifier, with wins over Bu Yunchaokete and Tomas Machac, before losing in two tight sets to Grigor Dimitrov. He’s currently sitting at a career-high ranking of World No. 57 and can push for a top 50 spot in Rome. But how will he prepare to face one of the most experienced names in the sport?

Fabio Fognini vs Jacob Fearnley Head-To-Head

Fognini and Fearnley have no previous history at this level. The head-to-head is deadlocked at 0-0.

Fabio Fognini vs Jacob Fearnley Prediction

There’s no doubt that Fognini will go down as one of the best clay-courters in the sport, with a Masters 1000 title on clay on his resume and being one of the few players to defeat the legendary Rafael Nadal on this surface multiple times. But he’s 37 now and is coming off a humiliating loss at the Mauthausen Challenger, leaving him lacking confidence and sharpness for what he regards as an important tournament. Fearnely, for his lack of experience, is maturing rapidly and he’s shown already that he’s got the skillset to make a seamless transition to clay. I’d be shocked if Fognini gets the win here even with a partisan crowd behind him. I expect Fearnley to keep up his promising start to the European clay swing.

Nur Said's Pick: Jacob Fearnley in straight sets