Jasmine Paolini beats Bianca Andreescu, the rain and the tension and flies for the second consecutive slam in the round of 16. After achieving the feat in Melbourne, the Italian number one confirms herself at Roland Garros (for the first time in her career), joining Elisabetta Cocciaretto among the magnificent 16 in Paris and demonstrating that she is now mature enough to be considered permanently among the best in the world. The Tuscan, seeded number 12 in the tournament, at the end of a match played partly in not even very light rain, got the better of the Canadian, former slam winner, in three sets, with a score of 6-1 3-6 6-0. And to think that in the third set, at a certain point, given the weather conditions, the one who didn’t want to stop was Andreescu, after Jasmine who was perhaps more inclined to interrupt the match. In the end it’s better this way, with two Italians in the round of 16 and with Paolini having a good opportunity to go even further, given that her opponent for a place in the quarterfinals will not be the Chinese Zheng but the Russian, number 70 in the world , Elina Avanesjan, a very particular but deadly player against the strongest players: 5-0 in previous matches against the top 12, 3-0 against the top 10. So it won’t be easy for the Italian, but she will be the favorite to start. She won’t have to get distracted, Jasmine, like she did in the second set. Andreescu is a talented player, as she always has been, stopped by countless physical problems in her career, and she was good at taking advantage of the Italian’s decline in the second set. The Canadian repeated the same pattern that had led her to victory against Kalinskaya, but this time without success. In the third set, Paolini returned to grinding out the game, with the mobility and tactical sagacity that have made her very strong in 2024, and she had no problems winning.
THE OTHERS
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In the other matches of the women’s draw of the day, Paula Badosa put her great friend and world number two, Aryna Sabalenka, in difficulty for a set, before the Belarusian took over the operations, closing the matter without too many problems (7- 5 6-1), but the Spaniard is growing more and more in condition with each passing tournament. Very good performance for Rybakina, number 4, who inflicted a 6-4 6-2 on Mertens, and also good for the phenomenal teenager Mirra, 17 years old and already in the third round of 16 of a career slam (6-2 6-1 at Steams).
