IANS Stuttgart At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on Tuesday night, Emma Navarro and Jasmine Paolini lived up to their seeded status by winning the first round of the WTA 500 indoor-clay tournament in Stuttgart, Germany.

Seed number five According to the WTA, Paolini of Italy defeated Eva Lys 6-2, 6-1 in only one hour and four minutes, advancing her one step closer to replicating her quarterfinal performance from the previous year.

The Italian was rewarded with a 6-for-8 break point conversion success rate as Paolini won an incredible 73 percent of the points when he returned the Lys first serve. Against Lys, she improved to 2-0 (4-0 in sets).

In the second round, world No. 6 Paolini will face Jule Niemeier, a German wild card, for the second time in a row.

Later, American Navarro, ranked seventh, defeated Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 6-0 to make a great tournament debut in Stuttgart.

The Top 20 players faced off for one hour and sixteen minutes, with Navarro firing 24 wins against Haddad Maia’s eight. The American never lost service throughout the match, and Navarro converted four of her nine break chances.

This year, I’ve played a lot of lengthy matches and three-set contests. It feels fantastic to finish it a little bit faster. I’m proud of my shape. I’m enjoying myself out here because it’s my first competition on Red Clay this year,” Navarro said.

In the second round, Navarro will now take on a past Grand Slam champion when she meets 2017 Roland Garros winner Jelena Ostapenko for the first time in her career.

In the first Center Court match of the day, Ostapenko defeated Dayana Yastremska to move to the second round. Her Ukrainian doubles partner was forced to quit owing to sickness when the score was 6-3, 3-0 in her favor.

Speaking after the match, the 2017 French Open winner expressed conflicted emotions: “I played well, but it’s always a sadness when a match finishes like this. I’m hoping it’s nothing major. The competition is really well-organized, and the atmosphere is fantastic. It’s a lot of fun, despite the courts being a touch slower this year.