Paolini through to French Open third round

Jasmine Paolini moved into the French Open third round on Wednesday as the last year's runner-up, brushed aside Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3, 6-3 to stretch her winning streak to eight matches following her triumph at the Italian Open earlier this month.

"A little bit of ups and downs but I'm happy I won," said the fourth-seeded Paolini, who next plays Russia's Anastasia Potapova or Ukraine's Yuliia Starodubtseva.

Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen punched her ticket to the last 32 with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Colombia's Emiliana Arango.

The Chinese star faces another Grand Slam debutant in the next round, 18-year-old Victoria Mboko of Canada.

Meanwhile, Poland's Swiatek is bidding to become the first woman to win four consecutive French Open titles since Suzanne Lenglen 102 years ago.

She arrived in Paris under a slight cloud, having not reached a WTA final since lifting the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen last year.

But the 23-year-old, who has slipped to fifth in the world rankings, opened her campaign with a confident straight-sets win against Rebecca Sramkova.

Next up is an opponent she knows well in Britain's Emma Raducanu, against whom Swiatek has never even lost a set in four previous meetings.

"We know each other's game. For sure I will need to be intense and focus on myself," said Swiatek, who boasts a 36-2 win-loss record at the French Open and also won the title in 2020.

"But for sure, you know, she won the US Open (in 2021). She can play great tennis. I'll be ready."

Raducanu is playing in the tournament for the first time since her debut in 2022 and said she was struggling with illness before her first-round win over Wang Xinyu.

She was thrashed 6-1, 6-0 the last time she met Swiatek in the Australian Open round of 32 in January.

"I think exposure to the top players is great for where I'm at for my development," Raducanu said ahead of the match on Court Philippe Chatrier.

"It's a match where I can go out and test myself and go for my shots, because I know if I just push the ball, I'm probably going to get eaten. I need to hit the ball."

Swiatek's slide down the WTA standings has left her in the same half of the draw as world number one Sabalenka, Paolini and Zheng.

Sabalenka fired a warning sign to her rivals in the first round by dismantling Russian Kamilla Rakhimova for the loss of just one game and will also be expected to make short work of Switzerland's Jil Teichmann in round two.

The Belarusian has never reached the French Open final and is hoping to banish the memories of a painful quarter-final loss to Mirra Andreeva in 2024.