Jabeur stuns Paolini at Berlin as Zverev eases into Halle 2nd round

Last year’s Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini got off to a losing start in her first grass-court match of 2025, a straight-sets loss to Ons Jabeur.

Jabeur, a Wimbledon finalist in 2022 and 2023, beat the fourth-seeded Paolini 6-1, 6-3 in the second round of the Berlin Tennis Open on Wednesday after the Italian had a first-round bye.

Jabeur could face 2023 Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova or Diana Shnaider in the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Paolini was playing for the first time since winning the French Open doubles title with fellow Italian Sara Errani. Paolini lost to Elina Svitolina in the fourth round of the French Open singles.

Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev’s hunt for an elusive grasscourt title began with a clinical 6-2 6-1 victory over Marcos Giron in the first round of the Halle Open on Wednesday in a match interrupted by an advertising hoarding falling on spectators.

During the opening set, a section of an advertising hoarding came crashing down from the upper tier onto spectators below, forcing the chair umpire to stop play.

Zverev immediately procured an ice pack for an elderly woman who pressed it against her neck and the players waited patiently while tournament organisers scrambled to provide medical assistance.

Organisers said the 62-year-old did not suffer any major injuries and was able to leave the stadium after the initial shock, but she was taken to hospital as a precaution.

They added that drumming against the boards may have caused the screws to come loose.

“There has never been anything like this in our 32-year tournament history. We deeply regret the incident,” tournament director Ralf Weber said in a statement. On court, Zverev finished the match with 23 winners in the 79-minute contest where Giron struggled to match the power of the German’s first serve and had no answer when his opponent’s returns found all corners of the court.

World number three Zverev, still nursing the disappointment of Sunday’s Stuttgart Open final defeat by Taylor Fritz, showed no mercy with the home fans firmly behind the towering second seed who has finished runner-up twice in Halle.

“It was a great match for me, I thought it was quite high level. Maybe he wanted to play a bit better than he did, but all in all I felt like I didn’t let him play that well, which was important for me,” Zverev said.

Agencies