Roland Garros: Jasmine Paolini doesn’t shine but is in the round of 16

Jasmine Paolini continues her run at Roland Garros. The world No. 4 beat Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva, world No. 81 and repechaged into the draw as a lucky loser, with a final score of 6-4 6-1 after just over an hour of play.

An uphill start for the Tuscan, who surrendered the serve twice in a row in her first two service rounds. Starodubtseva, however, does not take advantage and in fact does the same. From 2-2 it was back to her service game until the tenth game when Paolini placed the surgical break that earned her the first partial (6-4).

In the second set, the balance is broken immediately: Paolini takes the serve away from the Ukrainian in the fourth game (3-1) and doubles the break lead in the fifth game (5-1) before closing on serve, winning eight of the last nine games of the match.

Thanks to this victory, the blue player advances to the round of 16 of the Paris Slam where she will face the winner of the challenge between Elina Svitolina, number 14 in the WTA ranking and 13 in the seeding, and Bernarda Pera, world number 83.