Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the WTA Wimbledon match.
The breakout star of the 2024 spring-summer season, Jasmine Paolini, faces Kamilla Rakhimova, whose ambitions are far more modest — simply reaching the third round would be an achievement.
Jasmine Paolini
At Wimbledon 2024, the Italian made it all the way to the final, defeating the likes of Madison Keys (WTA No. 12) and Emma Navarro (No. 19) along the way. Admittedly, her path was somewhat eased by others eliminating top contenders such as Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, but Paolini certainly played her part. She entered the final as the favourite but was beaten by No. 31 Barbora Krejcikova. In her final warm-up event before this Grand Slam, she faced Swiatek in Bad Homburg and lost rather routinely in the semi-final (1:6, 3:6).
Kamilla Rakhimova
Kamilla Rakhimova enters this match as the clear underdog. The only previous meeting between the two was not even at WTA level but on the ITF circuit, where Paolini — then outside the top 50 — won convincingly in Les Franqueses del Vallès (6:2, 6:3). In the first round here, Rakhimova benefited from a favourable draw, facing world No. 108 Aoi Ito. Still, it took her over two hours to get through (5:7, 6:3, 6:2).
Jasmine Paolini vs Kamilla Rakhimova Prediction
At Roland Garros, Rakhimova was thoroughly dismantled by world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka (1:6, 0:6). Given how closely Paolini is playing to that level, we expect a comfortable win for the Italian.
