TENNIS – Italians Jasmine Paolini and Lorenzo Musetti lit up a damp day at Roland Garros as they both surged into the third round of the French Open with comprehensive wins while twice runner-up Casper Ruud made a shock exit yesterday.
Unheralded Matteo Gigante kept the Italian tricolour flying high in the afternoon with the biggest victory of his career as the qualifier sent former finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas tumbling out of the Grand Slam.
Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz endured a minor scare but got past unseeded Hungarian Fabian Marozsan before women’s title holder Iga Swiatek dismantled Briton Emma Raducanu to keep her bid for a sixth major title on track.
Fourth seed Paolini, a surprise runner-up last year, barely put a foot wrong on Court Philippe Chatrier as she brushed aside Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3 6-3 after paying homage to the venue’s greatest champion Rafa Nadal.
The diminutive Italian, who trains with Nadal’s former mentor Marc Lopez, touched the newly installed footprint of the Spanish great on centre court before delivering a polished display in front of a sparse crowd.
Musetti continued his claycourt resurgence with a clinical 6-4 6-0 6-4 dismantling of Colombian lucky loser Daniel Galan on court Simonne Mathieu.
The eighth seed, a finalist in Monte Carlo and semi-finalist in Madrid and Rome, overcame patchy weather to extend his recent successes on clay.
He was joined in the next round by Gigante, who beat 2021 runner-up and 20th seed Tsitsipas 6-4 5-7 6-2 6-4.
Alcaraz sealed a 6-1 4-6 6-1 6-2 win over Marozsan, who beat him in Rome two years ago, before the Spaniard declared his love for Court Philippe Chatrier where he lifted his maiden French Open title last year.
Seventh seed Ruud has also enjoyed his Roland Garros centre court outings after twice making the final but his latest quest for a maiden major title unravelled as he fell 2-6 6-4 6-1 6-0 to Portugal’s Nuno Borges.
The Norwegian appeared in control after claiming the opening set but faded as soon as Borges took command, with Ruud needing a medical timeout for a knee injury, which he said had troubled him in recent weeks, before being blanked in the fourth set.
The medical staff were on hand again when Bosnian Damir Dzumhur suffered a nasty fall in his match with Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard but he recovered to outlast the big-serving Frenchman 7-6(4) 6-3 4-6 6-4.
On the women’s side China’s Zheng Qinwen, the Paris 2024 Olympics champion on these courts, powered past Emiliana Arango of Colombia 6-2 6-3 as the eighth seed’s big-hitting game proved too much for the world number 85.
She now faces Canadian 18-year-old qualifier Victoria Mboko, who extended her fairytale run with a 6-4 6-4 win over Germany’s Eva Lys in her Grand Slam debut.
Swiatek made light work of former US Open champion Emma Raducanu, sealing a 6-1 6-2 victory and stretching her winning run in Paris to 23 consecutive matches.
The world number five, looking to become the first woman in the professional era since 1968 to claim four consecutive titles at Roland Garros, has now beaten Raducanu in all five of their meetings in straight sets.
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