Jasmine Paolini recounts her difficulty and explains the key to the comeback

It was certainly not an easy debut that of Jasmine Paolini, who in the second round of the Wuhan WTA 1000 (she skipped the first thanks to the ‘bye’ reserved for the main seeds) got the better of Yuan Yue, further back by 101 positions in the world ranking (eighth the’athlete from Bagni di Lucca, number 109 the Chinese) but able to win the first set and come close to a break at 4-3 that, if brought home, would most likely prove decisive.

“Today’s match was a very difficult one – Paolini confirmed to the organizers’ microphones after the match -. My opponent played very well, put in several winning shots, made my day very hard. I tried to raise the level of my game in the second set trying to figure out what to change from the’beginning: it worked, but it was not easy”.

“Winning the second set gave me great confidence– added the blue champion -I felt better point by point, raising the intensity: that&#8217s how I managed to bring home the victory. What made the difference was that I never lost concentration, finding effective solutions when it was getting bad. I am happy to continue, the Wuhan audience welcomed me well just as it did last year”.

Jasmine Paolini had started her tournament in Wuhan in 2024 against the same opponent as today, Yuan Yue, beating her on that occasion in two sets (6-4, 6-3) before defeating Erika Andreeva in the round of 16 and surrendering to Zheng Qinwen in the quarters. This year’s opponent in the third round will instead be Denmark&#8217s Clara Tauson, who beat Antonia Ruzic 6-4, 6-0.