Paolini sweeps aside Tomljanovic to reach third round

Ajla Tomljanovic, from Australia, defeated Jasmine Paolini, who had previously advanced to the third round of the French Open.

Tomljanovic was beaten by the fourth seed in a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the second-seeded seed at Roland Garros last year.

Paolini won his eighth straight match after lifting the WTA 1, 000 title earlier this month in Rome.

The Italian won Olympic gold in the women’s doubles in Paris along with compatriot Sara Errani, rising to the top of the WTA rankings after reaching the final of both the French Open and Wimbledon.

Paolini responded, “It’s a different feel, I guess, because I played a few matches here last year and again at the Olympics, so I am a little more used to this court.” I’ve never played here before.

Paolini received the first break to go 3-1 up after Tomljanovic made a number of unforced errors in her first match against Philippe Chatrier since she lost to Iga Swiatek in the previous year’s final.

She kept that cushion so she could comfortably wrap up the first set before moving on to the third game.

Paolini kept her composure by breaking again at 5-3 as Tomljanovic battled to close the gap.

The defending champion will face Yulii Starodubtseva of Ukraine or Anastasia Potapova of Russia.

Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen defeated Colombia’s Emiliana Arango 6-2, 6-3 earlier on Wednesday to advance to the third round.