BERLIN: Last year’s Wim­­bl­edon runner-up Jasmine Paolini got off to a losing start in her first gra­ss-court match of 2025, a straight-sets loss to Ons Jabeur.

Jabeur, a Wimbledon fin­a­list in 2022 and 2023, beat the fourth-seeded Paolini 6-1, 6-3 in the second round of the Berlin Tennis Open on Wednesday after the Italian had a first-round bye.

Jabeur could face 2023 Wimbledon winner Mark­eta Vondrousova or Diana Shnaider in the quarter-finals of the tournament.

Paolini was playing for the first time since winning the French Open doubles title with fellow Italian Sara Errani. Paolini lost to Elina Svitolina in the fourth rou­nd of the French Open singles.

Earlier on Wednesday, Spaniard Paula Badosa, the eighth seeded, reached the quarter-finals by winning against American Emma Navarro 7-6(2), 6-3 at the Rot-Weiss Tennis Club.

Badosa, ranked No 10, will face the winner of the match between Chinese qualifier Xinyu Wang and American Coco Gauff, the second seed, next.

In Wednesday’s later ma­­tch, Liudmila Samso­nova, the 2021 champion, saved two match points in a three-hour and 21-minute upset of third seed and defe­n­ding champion Jessica Pegula.

The 20th ranked Samso­nova prevailed 6-7(8), 7-5, 7-6(5) in an epic that is tied for the fifth-longest match of the year.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2025