Rome, May 8 -- Top seed Aryna Sabalenka and defending champion Jasmine Paolini advanced to the third round of the 2026 Italian Open, while Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas andItalian favorite Matteo Berrettini suffered early exits in the men's singles draw.
Sabalenka of Belarus defeated Czech player Barbora Krejcikova 6-2, 6-3 in straight sets on Thursday. After an early exchange of breaks, the world No. 1 quickly took control of the match and never looked back, hitting 29 winners while committing just 13 unforced errors.
Ninth seed Paolini battled past qualifier Leolia Jeanjean 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4 in nearly three hours to survive a tough opening test. Paolini failed to serve out the opening set while leading 5-3 before Jeanjean edged the tiebre...