Jasmine Paolini Gets Sweet Revenge

After reaching the third round in Wuhan by defeating top-tier opponents such as Sara Bejlek and Nikola Bartunkova before losing to Sonay Kartal (who went on to reach the final), Jasmine Paolini is smiling again in Ningbo, advancing past the first round of the WTA 500 tournament thanks to a two-set victory over Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina.

For Jasmine, who won 6-2, 7-5 in one hour and forty-one minutes, this is sweet revenge, considering Italy’s recent participation in the Billie Jean King Cup finals. In fact, it was Kalinina who had secured one of the two victories (against Tyra Caterina Grant on that occasion) that allowed Ukraine to reach the final of the women’s equivalent of the Davis Cup, knocking defending champion Italy out of the tournament.

Paolini, currently ranked No. 35 in the WTA rankings, aims to end an unlucky season on a high note—a season marked by a nagging foot injury that surfaced during the Italian Open and effectively derailed her performance in both singles and doubles. It’s no coincidence that 2026 could be the first year since 2022 without a trophy for the champion from Bagni di Lucca, who, however, has no intention of giving up in these final tournaments of the season.

The athlete, born in 1996, already knows the name of her next opponent in the Ningbo tournament: it is the American Iva Jovic, currently ranked No. 12 in the world, who won the Guadalajara tournament a month ago, where she defended her title following her victory in 2025. In Wuhan, Jovic was eliminated in the third round by Maja Chwalinska, who went on to win the tournament.