Fifth-seeded Jasmine Paolini is one of only two players to make it to the second week of every Grand Slam tournament in 2024 after defeating Yulia Putintseva 6-3, 6-4 in the third round of the US Open.

US Open: Results | Pull | Playing order

Before this year, Paolini had never advanced past the second round of a Grand Slam, but in 2024 she made the fourth round at the Australian Open, followed by her first two Grand Slam finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. The only other player to reach the second week of a Grand Slam tournament in 2024 is Coco Gauff, who reached the semifinals at the Australian Open and Roland Garros and then reached the fourth round at Wimbledon.

Paolini is also the only Italian player in the Open Era to have reached the second week of every Grand Slam tournament in a single season. She will next face 2023 US Open semifinalist Karolina Muchova, who defeated Anastasia Potapova 6-4, 6-2. Muchova has won all three of their previous meetings, including qualifying for the 2018 US Open, but they have not played each other since January 2021.

Three years ago, Paolini defeated Putintseva in a high-class 1:6, 6:3, 6:4 win in the semifinals of Portoroz 2021 to win her first Hologic WTA Tour trophy. The Kazakh was in top form again this year, scoring victories over world number one Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon and then number 2 Gauff in Cincinnati. But the rematch against Paolini was marked by the many improvements the Italian had made in the meantime.

Paolini maintained her aggressive position at the baseline and moved forward whenever possible, hitting 22 winners to Putintseva’s 16, and winning 12 of her 19 points at the net. In the first set, Putintseva played her best tennis of the day, developing creative patterns – a short forehand slice followed by a lob, a classic drop shot, a lob and a backhand winner – to stay in touch with Paolini.

But Paolini was able to finish the points on her own terms while playing within her capabilities. Although she twice lost serve after a break, she served out the set without much fuss after a third serve from Putintseva.

In the second set, she managed an early break to 2-1 through aggressive returns. This would prove to be decisive: Paolini fended off the only two break points of the set with unreturned serves and converted her first match point when a drop shot from Putintseva missed.

Shnaider reaches the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time

The Louis Armstrong Stadium hosted an Italian special on Saturday, with Paolini being followed by 2012 semifinalist Sara Errani, with whom she won the doubles gold medal at the Paris Olympics a month ago. Errani and Paolini had defeated young pair Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider in the Olympic final – but here Shnaider showed that hard-court singles is a very different matter, turning the tables on Errani 6-2, 6-2.

Errani, 37, wowed the crowd at times with her touch and tactical acumen, scoring 11 of 14 points at the net. But the points she scored did little to dampen Shnaider’s phenomenal strokeplay. The 20-year-old No. 18 hit 31 winners, 21 of which came with her deadly left-hand forehand.

Shnaider has now won 22 of her last 26 matches since June, including her second career title (Bad Homburg on grass), her third career title (Budapest on clay) and her first WTA 1000 semifinal appearance in Toronto. Ranked 108th in January, she shot into the top 20. A long run at a major was one of the only achievements she was missing in 2024. Shnaider has now achieved that and will face No. 6 seed Jessica Pegula in a rematch of the Toronto semifinal to advance even further.