Paolini overcomes 57 unforced errors to beat Jeanjean in Rome

ROME -- For 2 hours and 55 minutes, Jasmine Paolini put her home crowd through the wringer as she struggled through a 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4 win over qualifier Leolia Jeanjean to open her Internazionali BNL d'Italia title defense.
 
The cheers for her 54 winners were polite at the start, as befit the No. 9 seed doing what was expected of her. By the end, the increased volume reflected the crowd's desperation to will the top Italian player through to the third round. Their cries of "vai, Jasmine!" were punctuated with groans -- and heads in hands -- as she tallied 57 unforced errors and her form oscillated from one extreme to the other, often in one game.
 
"I was a little bit nervous," Paolini said in her press conference. "A lot of up and downs. She played a great match. Was a tough one, but I'm happy I stay there and managed to come back after the tough first set."

The ups and downs were evident from the start. Paolini broke Jeanjean three times in the first set and served for it at 5-3, and each time the Frenchwoman immediately broke back. Paolini's strongest winners included finely-angled backhands and superb touch at net, but she was rarely able to convert them into sustained momentum.
 
The defending champion's inability to close out the set came back to haunt her in the tiebreak, and Jeanjean seized her opportunity with her most aggressive tennis of the day.
 
Paolini's form may have wavered, but her fighting spirit remained solid. The second and third sets featured three extraordinary multi-deuce tussles, and Paolini won them all -- to go up 4-1 and then 5-1 in the second set, and then a decisive seven-deuce break of Jeanjean's serve for 4-3 in the decider.
 
"I try to repeat myself, 'Go for the point, go for the shot,'" Paolini recalled of her thought process during those mini marathons. "To try to be aggressive, but at the same time with a bit of patience. Wasn't easy because in that long game, 3-3, when I had an advantage, she was serving well."

 
It's fair to note that Paolini's 2026 has not lived up to the heights of her previous two seasons on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz. Her win-loss record this year is a modest 11-9, she has yet to defeat an opponent ranked in the Top 40 and she has taken three losses to players ranked outside the Top 50. But -- like her fighting spirit -- Paolini's positivity remains undimmed. She may have been nervous in her Rome opener, but she pointed out that her glorious title run last year also featured its shares of ups and downs (notably a comeback from a set and 3-0 down in her quarterfinal against Diana Shnaider).
 
"This match was a bit of ups and downs, for sure," she said. "But I remember last year, I mean, also a lot of ups and downs during the tournament. Of course, the first round went better than this. Was another story, another year. I'm here. I practice well last week. I was feeling great before the tournament. I'm happy that I have another chance to play another match here in Rome."

Paolini will play 21st seed Elise Mertens in the third round.