The first round action at the 2025 Marrakech Open will kick-start on Monday, March 31 and the likes of Mariano Navone, Nishesh Basavareddy & Richard Gasquet will be in action. Get the best predictions and tips for the day from ATP Marrakech Open 2025.
Mariano Navone v Laslo Djere
In what will be the first ever meeting between these two players, the world number 78 Laslo Djere will start off as an 8/11 favourite against 61st-ranked Mariano Navone.
And the reason for that is simple – Djere has shown what he can do on clay throughout his career but more importantly earlier this year during the South American swing.
He featured in two tournaments there, making it to the semifinal at the Argentina Open after having come through in the qualifiers before clinching the title at the Santiago Open with wins over Francisco Cerundolo and Sebastian Baez.
Djere will hope to bring that kind of form into this opener here against a player who himself played in all three clay-court tour-level tournaments that have been held this year. He has a 4-3 record on clay for the season with a shock victory over Holger Rune punctuating his effort.
We expect this to be a gritty battle, more suited for a later round.
Navone v Djere Tip: Three sets in the match: 6/5
Nishesh Basavareddy vs Filip Cristian Jianu
The 108th-ranked Nishesh Basavareddy has never faced off against the wildcard entrant and 241th-ranked Filip Cristian Jianu. And while Basavareddy starts off a favourite here with bookmakers offering 11/20 for his win we need to quickly add here that the American player hasn’t played on clay too often.
In fact that’s an understatement of epic proportions.
In a career that began at the lower levels in 2021, Basavareddy has featured in a mere two clay court tournaments, both of which came on the Futures circuit and he has won one match. Compare that to Jianu’s record, who featured in a whopping 106 matches last season itself!
Given the stark difference in their preference for this surface, we doubt Basavareddy should start out as a favourite here which makes Jianu’s win at 7/5 a tempting option to go with.
Basavareddy v Jianu Tip: Jianu to win: 7/5
Richard Gasquet v Botic van de Zandschulp
These two players have faced off twice before this and Botic van de Zandschulp has won both times – the matches having come in 2022 at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
And they now enter this first round match on clay with their own form struggles for the season.
Gasquet has featured in five tournaments including a Challenger this year and just one main draw match at the highest level and another one in that Challenger. In fact he injured himself at the Pau Challenger in February and hasn’t played since then.
His Dutch opponent might not have played a clay court match this year either, but he has a decent record on the surface.
Last season itself, he had a 16-12 record on clay – a lot of which came on the Challenger circuit – and add that to his third round appearance at the Indian Wells Masters earlier this month, we are looking at a player who kicks things off here with some confidence.
Gasquet v van de Zandschulp Tip: van de Zandsculp to win in straight sets: 5/6
