Jasmine Paolini cruised past Chinese wild card Wei Sijia 6-0 6-4 in 1 hour and 13 minutes on Margaret Court Arena to reach the second round at the Australian Open.
Wei made 16 unforced errors. Paolini saved two break points she faced in the second and fourth games and hit a series of forehand winners.
Wei won three qualifying matches to advance to the main draw. She had never played against a top 10 player.
Paolini earned an early break in the first game. Wei had a break point in the fourth game but Paolini saved it with an ace. The world number 4 player earned two breaks in the third and fifth games to win the first set 6-0.
Wei started the second set aggressively and earned two break points in the second game of the second set, but Paolini saved them to hold serve after a marathon game.
Paolini earned the decisive break in the fifth game with a forehand winner. The Italian player was not able to convert a match point in the ninth game, but she sealed the win on serve in the ninth game.
This time last year Paolini was ranked number 31 and reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career. The 29-year-old played her first two Grand Slam finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon reached her career-high of world number 4 during a successful 2024 season.
“I feel very happy. It is not easy. She played unbelievably and was returning so fast. I had never played against her before, but she played really good tennis”, said Paolini. Paolini set up a second round match against Mexican number 1 Renata Zarazua, who squandered a 5-1 lead in the tie-break of the first set but she fought back to beat Taylor Townsend 6-7 (6-8) 6-1 6-2.
