Jasmine Paolini Books Place in French Open Third Round

The first set was truly an enjoyable watch. With just one break in it, Paolini came out victorious 6-3. Despite this, it wasn’t simple, with both women producing some excellent tennis throughout.

Early on it was Tomljanovic who seemed to have the upper hand. She really leaned into her flat backhands, which flew through the court forcing errors at the other side of the net. In that sense, the windless indoor conditions suited her. Although, once Paolini found her range she never looked back.

Sure, there were entertaining rallies and close games, but the match was ultimately on the Italian’s racket. Tomljanovic produced aggressive groundstrokes that put Paolini on the back foot, but the latter’s movement and anticipation would often neutralise the rally. On the other hand, once the world #4 established the upper hand in a point, it was game over. 

Throughout the first set, in the crucial points, Tomjlanovic’s shot selection was questionable. From as early as the fourth game, and serving 2-1 down and 30-30 the Aussie went too big at the back to give away a free point. This was a frequent pattern of the match: a tight few points to start the game would lead to a 30-30 situation, and ultimately one player locked in, while the other lacked measure and consistency.

A Crucial Seventh Game

At 5-3, Paolini showed her class to produce two world-class points to win the set. In the second one in particular she showed her anticipation and agility to absorb power with a jaw-dropping backhand passing shot.

Second Set Fast Start 

As we see so often in tennis, after winning the first set, the favourite was able to break straight away in the second. Therefore, Tomljanovic never felt in the match, it was always an uphill battle. Paolini was teeing off, winners were plenty and she was able to play with such a variety and freedom. In the blink of an eye, she had established a 3-0 lead and a double break.

Once again, Tomljanovic fought on. With a chance to break and a slow second serve received into her favoured backhand wing, she squandered her return into the net. Following this, she could have let her head drop, but instead, she kept plugging away and earned the break anyway.

A Competitive End 

On serve and 4-3 up, Paolini found herself a break point down. Yet again, on the pressure points, she excelled. Seemingly in trouble, she returned with little depth and sat the ball up to Tomjlanovic’s forehand. Yet, the Aussie went unnecessarily big and hit long. At deuce, once again Tomljanovic established the upper hand, but upon an approach shot hesitated into the net, and found herself victim of a stunning passing shot. With Paolini serving to win the game, Tomljanovic made an unforced error on the second serve returned . She never recovered from such a disappointment and was broken in the next game to lose 6-3 6-3.

A game overall that showed quality from both was decided in the pressure points. Paolini will be looking to keep up this form in the coming 10 days. 

What’s Next

Paolini now faces either Anastasia Potapova or Yuliia Starodubtseva in the third round on Friday. She will go into either of those clashes as a heavy favourite no doubt.

If anything, it’s been an ideal start for the 29-year-old. Her opening round match against Yue Yuan was tight and nervy, but she fought her way through. This clearly made her match sharp for her meeting with Tomljanovic, where she excelled.

In the same section as Elina Svitolina and Qinwen Zheng, potential mouth-watering ties lie ahead.