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French Open 2025: Zheng Qinwen, Jasmine Paolini and Lorenzo Musetti advance to third round

French Open 2025: Zheng Qinwen, Jasmine Paolini and Lorenzo Musetti advance to third round

India Today28-05-2025

Lorenzo Musetti, Zheng Qinwen, and Jasmine Paolini all delivered assured performances on a rain-affected Wednesday at Roland Garros to book their places in the third round of the French Open.MUSETTI EASES PAST GALANItalian eighth seed Lorenzo Musetti cruised through his second-round clash, dispatching Colombian lucky loser Daniel Galan 6-4, 6-0, 6-4 on Court Simonne Mathieu. The only real interruption for Musetti came from the skies, as intermittent rain delayed play but did little to shake his composure on court.advertisementA Galan double fault gifted Musetti the first break of the match in the third game, and the Italian quickly opened up a 5-2 lead with confident, aggressive play. Although Galan managed to claw back one break, Musetti responded with a commanding smash to seal the opening set.
The second set was one-way traffic, with Musetti dropping just five points as he shifted into a higher gear. Galan offered more resistance in the third, but the Italian maintained control to close out the match on serve.FRENCH OPEN DAY 4 LIVE"It has been a tremendous clay season so far, but I want to go higher. I've never made it past the fourth round here," said Musetti, who has surged into the top 10 after reaching the Monte Carlo final and making semifinal runs in both Rome and Madrid. He will next face either Argentina's Mariano Navone or American Reilly Opelka.ZHENG CONTINUES PARISIAN CHARGEadvertisementOn nearby Court Suzanne Lenglen, China's Zheng Qinwen stormed into the women's singles third round with an easy 6-2, 6-3 win over Colombia's Emiliana Arango. The eighth seed, who captured Olympic gold on these very courts last August, once again demonstrated her comfort on clay.Zheng was broken in the opening game and twice more early in the second set, as Arango tested her patience with longer rallies. But the Chinese star quickly regained her rhythm, breaking at will and dictating play with her trademark firepower from the baseline.While it wasn't flawless, the 22-year-old stayed composed to wrap up the match in just over an hour, advancing to the third round in Paris for the third time in four appearances.PAOLINI DEFEATS TOMLJANOVICJasmine Paolini advanced to the third round of the French Open on Wednesday with a routine 6-3, 6-3 win over Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic on Court Philippe-Chatrier.Before the match, the Italian fourth seed paused to acknowledge the legacy of Rafael Nadal, briefly touching the newly installed footprint of the 14-time Roland-Garros champion near the net. The tribute was unveiled on Sunday in a ceremony honoring Nadal. Paolini is coached by Marc Lopez, a former member of Nadal's team.So far, it's a 2/2 for Italy #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/e83kh1lVRr— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 28, 2025In overcast conditions, Paolini dominated from the outset, rarely allowing Tomljanovic a foothold in the match. She moves on to face either Ukrainian lucky loser Yuliia Starodubtseva or Russia's Anastasia Potapova in the next round."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).

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