World No. 4 Paolini Passes Challenging Test Against Garcia At Qatar Open
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Jasmine Paolini won her first match at the 2025 Qatar Open in Doha, beating Caroline Garcia in two sets.
Paolini was the star of the 2024 season. She stunningly won the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai before reaching back-to-back Grand Slam finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Thanks to her incredible performances, the Italian player rose to the World No. 4 position, but this year will present Paolini with the more difficult part of the success. She has to defend all of her previous results.
The Dubai Championships, where she won last year, is the next event on the calendar, so the World No. 4 will certainly want to arrive in the United Arab Emirates in good form.
But her form was tested already in the first round of the Qatar Open. The Italian's opponent was Caroline Garcia, who, too, was the World No. 4 player at her peak.
Now ranked 76th in the world, the French player has struggled to remain consistent in recent months, but regardless of her rank, she's always a dangerous opponent for anyone.
Garcia started her Qatar Open journey with a win over Yue Yuan, so she also had more playing time on the courts in Doha than her second-round opponent. Since Paolini is the fourth seed in the Qatar Open draw, she had a first-round bye.
And maybe the familiarity with the courts showed early in this match. Garcia got off to a perfect start, breaking her opponent's serve already in the first game.
But Paolini, who is one of the leaders when it comes to the return games won, was able to break right back. The Italian player then held her serve a couple of times until an opportunity presented itself at 3-2.
Garcia got into trouble, and Paolini didn't need a second invitation to break and lead 4-2. But the two-time Grand Slam finalist had to fend off two break points in the very next game.
Paolini succeeded in doing that, and after holding her serve once more, she was able to win the first set of this match 6-3.
But again, she was broken to start the second set. After two games played, Garcia led 2-0, and it seemed that the French player finally found some inspired level.
However, that didn't last for too long. Like in the first set, Paolini broke back and added one more break of serve later in the set. The Italian player was just the better player on the court, which is why she won this match 6-3, 6-4.
She will now prepare for a third-round match against the winner of the match between the 16th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova and Jelena Ostapenko.
