Jasmine Paolini surprises fan in Wuhan after defeating China’s own Yuan Yue

Though she'd just knocked out a local favorite, Jasmine Paolini’s on-court interview following her 6-4, 6-3 victory over Yuan Yue in Wuhan left one fan jumping for joy.

“They’re cheering for you,” said the interviewer halfway into their post-match chat on Wednesday. “You have a lot of fans in China.”

Paolini exchanged glances with a section of the crowd that had been cheering for her since the first point.

“Xiè xiè,” she said, smiling. Pointing to a fan in the adoring section, she added: “For you, I’m going to give you a towel now.”

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Running over to her seat to grab a towel, and then racing across the court once more, Paolini thanked her crowd of supporters with a gift of her own.

Also in the interview, the Italian noted the difficulty of competing against a player in her home country.

“It’s not easy to play a Chinese player in China, but the atmosphere was great, a lot of people," the No. 3 seed said. "It’s really good to have fans here, I’m really happy to be playing here in Wuhan.”

The No. 3 seed plays Erika Andreeva in the third round, sitting one match away from China’s highest-ranked player, not to mention this year’s Olympic gold medalist, Zheng Qinwen.