PAOLINI SHOWS HEART FOR MAJOR MILESTONE
World No.15 Jasmine Paolini battled from a set down into a maiden Grand Slam quarter-final with a 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 win over Elina Avanesyan on Monday.
The Italian, who reached the last 16 at the Australian Open and lifted the Dubai WTA 1000 title earlier this season, will meet No.4 seed Elena Rybakina in the quarter-finals.It was the land of opportunity on Court Suzanne-Lenglen: who would be able to handle the occasion better with such a golden ticket in reach?
Avanesyan got straight down to it, striking the ball cleanly in 'no miss mode' to race 4-0 ahead in just 17 minutes.
Confidence was high in the 21-year-old's game and the 1.62m Paolini was having to find the lines and corners with her pocket-rocket power to gain any traction.Flattening out her strokes, Paolini powered back into contention, breaking the world No.70 when serving for the opener at 5-2, but Avanesyan kept up the pace and depth, teasing the errors from the No.12 seed's racquet.