Paolini wins ninth straight match; faces Svitolina next at Roland Garros
Jasmine Paolini's career-best winning streak continues. The No. 4 seed from Italy defeated Ukrainian lucky loser Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-4, 6-1 on Court Philippe Chatrier on Friday evening, returning to the second week at Roland Garros.
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On a warm day in Paris, last year's French Open runner-up Paolini needed only 1 hour and 9 minutes to oust 81st-ranked Starodubtseva. Paolini is into the Round of 16 for the fifth time in her last six Grand Slam events.
Paolini has now won nine consecutive matches. In her most recent event before Roland Garros, Paolini posted a historic result at Rome, becoming the first Italian woman in 40 years to capture the Internazionali BNL d'Italia singles title.
Paolini's next opponent will be another Ukrainian, No. 13 seed Elina Svitolina. Svitolina won a tense nightcap battle with 83rd-ranked Bernarda Pera of the United States, narrowly prevailing 7-6(4), 7-6(5) in 2 hours and 13 minutes.
Paolini and Svitolina will face off for the second straight Grand Slam event. In their only prior meeting, Svitolina upset Paolini 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 in the third round of the 2025 Australian Open.
Star shining: A former college athlete out of Old Dominion University in Virginia, Starodubtseva has recently excelled when put through the gauntlet of Grand Slam qualifying. In 2024, she became the first woman to successfully qualify for all four Grand Slam main draws in a calendar year.
Starodubtseva was the No. 1 seed in this year's qualies, but fell at the last hurdle to teenage clay-court expert Sara Bejlek. Starodubtseva got a second chance and took advantage, becoming only the third woman this century to make the Roland Garros third round as a lucky loser.
Paolini prevails: However, getting past Paolini was a bridge too far for Starodubtseva, who falls to 0-4 against Top 10 players. Paolini is now the first Italian woman to reach back-to-back Rounds of 16 at Roland Garros since her doubles partner Sara Errani made four in a row between 2012 and 2015.
Paolini had never made a Grand Slam Round of 16 until last year, but she has racked up wins at majors since the start of 2024. Only World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka (27) has won more Grand Slam main-draw singles matches than Paolini (23) over the last two years.
Tale of the match: The first four games of Friday's clash went against serve with Paolini twice down an early break before hitting 2-2. Gradually, the Paolini forehand gained more of its power and accuracy and she never lost serve in the first set again.
At 5-4, Paolini dragged Starodubtseva around the court in a gripping rally to garner a set point. The Italian converted that chance by following up a wicked forehand with a winning drop shot, closing out a tight first set.
A much more routine second set followed for Paolini. She stumbled only once, in the final game, where she saw one match point fade away and stared down a break point. Quickly regrouping, Paolini won the next three points to triumph.
"The first few games were tough," Paolini said afterwards. "I had to adjust a little bit with the conditions, but then I felt better on court. Happy to be in the fourth round here in Roland Garros."
Svitolina squeaks past Pera
Svitolina had a much tougher time clinching her spot in the Round of 16. She faced off against the fearless power game of Pera, who has won two WTA singles titles on clay and reached the Round of 16 here two years ago.
Svitolina was a point away from falling behind 5-2 in the first set, but she turned that set around. In the tiebreak, Svitolina found a forehand winner in the corner to garner triple set point at 6-3, and she held on for the one-set lead.
In the second set, Svitolina had two chances to serve out the match, at 5-4 and 6-5, including two match points in the latter game. Pera fought back on each of those occasions, and another tiebreak would settle the second set.
In this breaker, Pera led by a double mini-break at 3-0, but Svitolina found her way back once again, lining up two more match points at 6-4. On her fourth match point overall, Svitolina went for broke and fired a perfect down-the-line backhand to wrap up a very tough encounter.
This was Svitolina's 15th clay-court win in tour-level main draws this year -- the most of any player. If she can beat Paolini, she will move into the Roland Garros quarterfinals for the fifth time in her career.
