Jasmine Paolini and Katie Boulter had split their four previous matches evenly with two wins each. However, their first meeting on clay demonstrated a clear difference in their performance on the surface. Sixth seed Jasmine Paolini needed just one hour to secure a dominant 6-1, 6-2 victory over Boulter, advancing to the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open.
Paolini, who reached the final of Roland Garros last year, started the match aggressively. She quickly took a 2-0 lead, hitting five clean winners. Boulter, who had achieved her first ever tour-level clay win against Katerina Siniakova earlier in the week, managed to break back after a superb rally, ending with her own backhand winner.
Unfortunately for Boulter, that break was her only real moment of success. Paolini proceeded to win the next nine games without facing a single game point against her. She consistently hit powerful forehands and effective drop shots that exploited Boulter`s movement on the clay. In the second set, Paolini lost only four points in the initial five games. The British player struggled significantly with her shot control throughout the match, accumulating 21 unforced errors.
While leading 5-0 in the second set, Paolini had a brief dip in form, hitting a couple of double faults, which allowed Boulter to win two consecutive games. However, this brief rally wasn`t enough to shift the momentum. The Italian calmly served out the match in her next service game. Paolini`s best previous result in Madrid was reaching the fourth round last year. She will now face either 29th seed Magda Linette or Maria Sakkari as she aims to match or surpass that performance.
Jasper Hawthorne 
Dominic Ashworth