Jasmine Paolini and Emma Navarro, living up to their seedings, smoothly progressed to the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on Tuesday evening. This WTA 500 tournament is held on indoor clay courts in Stuttgart, Germany.
No. 5 seed Paolini from Italy only needed 1 hour and 4 minutes to defeat Eva Lys with a score of 6-2, 6-1. This victory brings Paolini closer to repeating her quarterfinal appearance from the previous year.
World No. 68 Lys, playing in Stuttgart as the top-ranked German player for the first time, could not withstand Paolini`s strong return game.
`Lys is a very nice person, and I apologize to the German fans,` Paolini said in her on-court interview, as the crowd responded with applause. `But I have to perform my best!`
Paolini was highly effective in return games, winning 73 percent of points on Lys`s first serve and converting 6 out of 8 break points. Her head-to-head record against Lys improves to 2-0 (4-0 in sets).
World No. 6 Paolini will now face another German player, Jule Niemeier, a wild card entrant, in the second round. Paolini has won both of her previous matches against Niemeier, both played in 2022.
Later in the evening, No. 7 seed Navarro of the United States made an impressive debut at the Stuttgart tournament, easily defeating Brazil`s Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 6-0.
In their 1-hour and 16-minute match between Top 20 players, Navarro hit 24 winners compared to Haddad Maia`s eight. Navarro successfully converted four of her nine break points and did not lose her serve throughout the match.
`I’ve played many long matches and three-set matches this year,` Navarro commented afterwards. `Finishing a match quicker feels good. I`m happy with my current form. This is my first tournament on red clay this season, so I`m enjoying it.`
Navarro had previously lost to Haddad Maia twice on clay last year, making Tuesday`s win a significant turnaround. The World No. 11 continues her pursuit of a second WTA 500 title this year, having already won the WTA 500 Merida on hard court in March.
Unfortunately for Haddad Maia, this loss marks her ninth consecutive defeat since reaching the third round of the 2025 Australian Open.
Navarro`s next opponent in the second round will be Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 Roland Garros champion, in their first career meeting.
