Fourth seed Jasmine Paolini picked up where she left off last year to get an early Grand Slam win on the board at Australian Open 2025 on Tuesday.
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The 2024 Roland-Garros and Wimbledon finalist was too good in every department for Chinese qualifier Wei Sijia in her first Grand Slam match, the Italian winning 6-0 6-4 in a little over an hour.
The 16 unforced errors from the world No.117 meant the first set was comfortable for Paolini, although she had to focus at times during a much tighter second and saved four break points during the contest.
The win puts Paolini up against either American Taylor Townsend or Mexican Renata Zarazua on Thursday.
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“It’s not always easy to play the first round,” Paolini admitted to the crowd in her post-match interview.
“She was playing unbelievable [in the second set]. She was returning so fast sometimes. I was like ‘Where is the ball?’ And the ball was already in the ballboy’s hand so fast.
“I didn’t know her, never played her, never practiced together. She played really good tennis and we will see her in the top 100 for sure.
“I’m happy with my performance. I had a solid serve today, and it’s great to be back in Australia.”
Paolini quickly became one of the brightest stars of women’s tennis in 2024, and will be hoping to replicate that success during the coming months.
In a breakthrough year, the 29-year-old reached back-to back Grand Slam finals in Paris and at Wimbledon, runs that helped her rise from No.29 at the start of last season to a year-end ranking of No.4.
In doubles, she and Italian partner Sara Errani reached the Roland-Garros final and won gold for Italy at the Paris Olympic Games. In November, she led Italy to glory at the Bille Jean King Cup in Malaga.
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With a ranking gap of 113 places between the two players, the first set was something of a mismatch as a nervous Wei took time to settle into life inside Margaret Court Arena.
Paolini broke in the first game which set the tone for the opening exchanges, and she was soon finishing off a bagel set after exactly 30 minutes.
Wei, who won her final qualifying match against Nina Stojanovic 11-9 in a deciding breaker, offered much more resistance in the second set.
It took Paolini until the fifth game before she was able to break again, this time with a thumping inside-out forehand return winner.
That breakthrough proved to be the decisive moment of the set, although Wei did well to stick to the world No.4 for as long as she did over the closing stages.
Before her run to the fourth round this time last year, Paolini had never won a match in Melbourne, and she will be hoping Tuesday’s success can provide a platform for another deep run at a major.
Should she beat either Townsend or Zarazua, her first real test could come in the third round against Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.