French Open 2025: Jasmine Paolini battles previous Yuan Yue to achieve second round-OxBig News Network

Fresh off a historic title run in Rome, Jasmine Paolini carried her momentum into the French Open, grinding out a tricky first-round win over China’s Yuan Yue at Roland Garros on Sunday.

The world No. 4 and fourth seed needed to dig deep to get previous Yuan, finally prevailing 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 on Court Suzanne-Lenglen. The consequence prolonged Paolini’s profitable streak to seven matches and underlined her rising authority on clay.

She regarded in full management early on, racing via the primary set with commanding baseline play and strong serving. But Yuan, a former Top 40 participant, grew extra aggressive within the second and capitalised on a patch of unforced errors from Paolini to stage the match.

Yuan carried that momentum into the deciding set, breaking Paolini to go up 3-2 and threatening to tug off the most important win of her profession. But Paolini held her nerve. The Italian broke again instantly and reeled off the ultimate 4 video games to shut out the competition.

With the win, Paolini strikes inside one victory of matching her career-best profitable streak. Her type has surged since lifting the Internazionali BNL d’Italia title earlier this month, turning into the primary Italian lady in 4 many years to assert the Rome crown.

Her resurgence on clay has been a key storyline on the WTA Tour. Last 12 months, she reached her first Grand Slam last in Paris, the primary Italian lady to take action since Flavia Pennetta received the 2015 US Open. Weeks later, she backed it up with one other deep run, reaching the Wimbledon last.

“It was powerful,” Paolini stated. “I received fairly straightforward the primary set however then she began to play higher. A little bit of feelings got here out.

“I used to be then 3-2 down with a break however I did it. Hopefully I’ll play higher then subsequent spherical. We will see.”

In the second spherical, Paolini will face both Ajla Tomljanovic or Maya Joint, each from Australia. She has by no means performed both opponent.

Elsewhere on Sunday, 18th seed Donna Vekic – a finalist on the Paris Olympics – battled previous Russia’s Anna Blinkova 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-1. Vekic struck 9 aces through the match, whereas Blinkova didn’t register any, underscoring the Croatian’s edge on serve.