Western & Southern Open: Paolini beats Bucsa in second round

Italian qualifier Jasmine Paolini reached the third round of the Western & Southern Open by defeating Spanish qualifier Cristina Bucsa 6-1, 6-3 at the Linder Tennis Family Center in Cincinnati on Wednesday night.

Paolini, ranked No 43, will play the winner of the match between Kazakh Elena Rybakina, the No 4 seed, and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko next.

Ahead of her victory, the Italian defeated Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (6-2, 6-1).

Bucsa, ranked No 84, beat Swiss Belinda Bencic, the No 13 seed (4-6, 6-3, 6-2) in the previous round of the Cincy Open.

Cincinnati WTA 1000, other second-round results:

• Mayar Sherif vs. Coco Gauff
• Ann Li vs. Aryna Sabalenka
• Donna Vekic vs. Victoria Azarenka
• Elise Mertens vs. Marie Bouzkova
• Elena Rybakina vs. Jelena Ostapenko
• Petra Kvitova vs. Linda Noskova
• Qinwen Zheng beat Venus Williams (WC): 1-6, 6-2, 6-1
• Karolina Muchova beat Petra Martic: 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
• Maria Sakkari (8) beat Sorana Cirstea: 2-6, 6-3, 7-5
• Iga Swiatek (1) beat Danielle Collins (WC): 6-1, 6-0
• Marketa Vondrousova (10) beat Anastasia Potapova: 6-4, 6-2
• Jessica Pegula (3) beat Martina Trevisan (Q): 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-3
• Daria Kasatkina (14) beat Varvara Gracheva (LL): 6-3, 6-1
• Sloane Stephens beat Caroline Garcia (6): 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
• Ons Jabeur (5) beat Anhelina Kalinina: 6-3, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (2)