Roberto Carballes Baena, Fabio Fognini and Aleksandar Vukic will be among those in 2025 Marrakech Open action on Monday, March 31. Get the best predictions and tips for the day from ATP Marrakech Open 2025.
Roberto Carballes Baena v Taha Baadi
World number 51 Roberto Carballes Baena has a good chance to turn his season around as he takes to court for his opening round match against local wildcard Taha Baadi. Baadi is ranked 697th in the world and will be making his debut at the highest level in this encounter.
Interestingly, Baadi hasn’t played a single main draw match even at the Challenger level this year with all of those having coming on the Futures circuit. Baadi made the quarterfinals of the two of those events.
On his part, Carballes Baena isn’t too many spots away from his career-best ranking of 49th but his win-loss record of 6-9 for the season might not please him too much. What has made things worse coming into the clay-court swing is he featured in two of the tournaments on the South American circuit in February and lost in the first round at both Buenos Aires and Rio.
He will be sure to start things off on a high here but could be tested a little.
Carballes Baena v Baadi Tip: Over 15.5 games in the match: 4/6
Fabio Fognini v Raphael Collignon
This is a battle between two players now ranked in their 90s, but the difference is stark.
Fabio Fognini was once ninth in the world and has slowly, but steadily fallen away as the results have dried up. His opponent in this one, Raphael Collignon is 92nd on the rankings, just one away from his career-best having begun the 2024 season ranked outside the top 350.
What this implies is that Collignon is a much-improved player and what’s also interesting to watch is that for someone who is known for his performances on clay, he has won made it to the final of two Challenger events on indoor hardcourt surfaces.
We believe he could prove to be a handful for Fognini.
Fognini v Collignon Tip: Collignon to win: 11/20
Aleksandar Vukic v Hugo Dellien
While the 76th-ranked Aleksandar Vukic and world number 102 Hugo Dellien have never faced off in a competitive match before this and there’s that stark difference in their rankings, it’s interesting to see how the bookmakers have gone with it.
Dellien actually starts out as a favourite, at 11/20 and that’s simply to do with his overall performance on and inclination towards clay. He has featured in five Challenger tournaments this season on clay to go with the Rio Open and his overall record reads a reasonable 12-6 on that surface.
Vukic 4-9 for the season with none of those matches having come on clay – and that’s where things go rather pear-shaped for him as he takes on a clay-court specialist in this opener.
Vukic v Dellien Tip: Dellien to win: 11/20
