Jasmine Paolini was the latest victim of Wimbledon’s spate of giant-killings as last year’s runner-up suffered a shock second-round exit against Russian World No. 62 Kamilla Rakhimova on Wednesday.
Just 12 months after her run to the All England Club final, Paolini followed a host of highly-ranked seeds out of the grass-court Grand Slam. The Italian fourth seed, beaten by Barbora Krejcikova in the 2024 Wimbledon title match, slumped to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 loss in two hours and 18 minutes on Court Three.
“It was a tough one. I’m still thinking about the second set. I could do much better. I had many, many chances, I did some stupid mistakes. I need to stay there mentally much better. My attention was going up and down all the time. I don’t know why,” said Paolini.
After reaching the French Open and Wimbledon finals last year, Paolini has failed to make the quarter-finals in each of her last four Grand Slam appearances.
“It’s tough to accept. I’m a little bit tired now. It was two intense months before coming here. If I want to compete at this level I have to be focussed all the time, not like I was today,” she added.
The 29-year-old’s defeat means four of the top five seeds in the women’s singles have been eliminated just three days into the event. Second seed Coco Gauff, third seed Jessica Pegula and fifth seed Zheng Qinwen were beaten in the first round. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka is the last of the top five seeds remaining at SW19.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Russian seventh seed Mirra Andreeva beat Italian World No. 63 Lucia Bronzetti 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) to secure a berth in the third round.
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