By Julien Pretot
PARIS (Reuters) – Last year’s French Open runner-up Jasmine Paolini gave a touch to Rafael Nadal’s footprint on Court Phlippe Chatrier before racing into the third round with a 6-3 6-3 victory against Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic on Wednesday.
The Italian fourth seed was barely bothered in a one-sided affair on a gloomy Parisian day as she set up a meeting with Ukrainian lucky loser Yuliia Starodubtseva or Russian Anastasia Potapova.
During the warm-up, Paolini, who is trained by Nadal’s former coach Marc Lopez, approached the permanent footprint of the 14-times French Open champion that was installed next to the net on Roland Garros’s main court during a ceremony in the Spaniard’s honour last Sunday, and gave it a light touch.
“It’s hard to play against Ajla, she’s very aggressive but I tried to mix it up and play aggressively myself,” Paolini said.
“Last year, I played two matches here and a bit at the Olympics, now I’m a bit more used to it (Court Philippe Chatrier).
The diminutive Paolini, who easily handled Tomljanovic’s all-in approach, sealed the opening set with a cross-court passing shot after dragging her opponent to the net with a subtle drop shot.
She kept her focus in the second set, wrapping it up in front of a barely half-capacity crowd – a common occurrence for the French Open opening match on the main court.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ken Ferris)
