7️⃣th seed Jasmine Paolini made a statement at the Australian Open 🇦🇺🎾The Italian kicked off her campaign in style, cruising past Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-1, 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena. A dominant display from start to finish, Paolini showed she’s ready to make a deep run at the season’s first Grand Slam 🔥💪

Despite the scoreline, Aliaksandra Sasnovich was never going to be an easy first-round test 🎾The former top-30 player brought plenty of experience into the match and arrived in Melbourne full of confidence, having won 7 of her last 8 matches, including a recent victory over Clara Tauson in Brisbane. Injuries may have affected her rankings in recent seasons, but her quality and fight remain undeniable 💪🔥

Despite arriving in strong form, Aliaksandra Sasnovich had no answers for a Jasmine Paolini operating on a much higher level 🔥🎾The Italian entered the Australian Open with limited match play, having featured briefly at the United Cup where she fell twice to Belinda Bencic but picked up a confidence-boosting win over Leolia Jeanjean. With no other tournaments under her belt, Paolini faced questions about her readiness — and answered them emphatically with a polished, composed performance to open her campaign in style 💪🇮🇹

From the opening games, Jasmine Paolini completely took control of the match at Rod Laver Arena 🎾🔥Aliaksandra Sasnovich (No. 102) struggled to find her rhythm, possibly affected by the big stage and the packed crowd, having spent limited time on main courts at Grand Slams in recent seasons.

Paolini saved a break point in her very first service game and never looked back, racing through a dominant stretch where she won 13 of 14 points to secure a double break almost instantly.Her service games were calm and commanding, helping her surge to a 5-0 lead. Sasnovich managed to hold just once, but never seriously threatened on return. Paolini wrapped up the opening set 6-1 in just 27 minutes, with Sasnovich committing 17 unforced errors — accounting for over 60% of the points Paolini won in the set 🇮🇹💪