Elena Rybakina showcases her title credentials after convincingly overcoming Jasmine Paolini in Australian Open warm-up clash

Elena Rybakina will be going into the Australian Open with some good momentum after getting the better of Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-2 in the first Opening Week Showdown ahead of the major event commencing.

Australian Open fan week is well underway, with some of the best tennis players in the world taking to the court as they look to put on a show for the crowd while ramping up their key preparation for the Grand Slam.

The first one to occur in Melbourne is between two talents of the WTA Tour. Rybakina is highly touted to go on and win the event. She was sublime in the WTA Finals, just qualifying for it after a flawless end to the Asian swing. She continued this positive form into Riyadh where no one stood a chance against the Kazakh, not even the world number one Aryna Sabalenka.

Paolini is no easy customer. The two-time Grand Slam finalist has been an ever-present in the top 10 in recent times and also managed to qualify for last year's WTA Finals by the skin of her teeth, enduring contrasting results to the former Wimbledon champion. They last met in the Ningbo Open semi-final, where Rybakina hit 10 aces enroute to sealing a spot in the final. However, going into the latest matchup in Melbourne Paolini had a 4-3 head-to-head advantage over her rival, making it an interesting affair.

It was the Italian who took the advatange in the early stages, breaking the serve to head into a 4-1 lead. This would be a very ominous lead over most players, but against Rybakina you need to be prepared to get hit by a barrage at any given moment. This was what happened as the world number five came back and won the next five games to win the first set and set the benchmark.

She made it six on the spin before Paolini stopped the rot to hold. At 2-2, Rybakina once more ran away with it in a similar pattern to the first set. She won the next four games that were on offer to win the match and show how much of a threat she will be for the event beginning this Sunday.

"It was a really nice practice for the tournament, Rybakina stated in her on-court interview after the match. "Of course it was really nice to share the court with Jasmine. She was always positive, always smiling. It was a really nice atmosphere so thank you so much for watching us play, and enjoy tennis for the next couple of weeks."

Paolini was also complimentary of her opponent and the atmosphere after the defeat. "It was nice, I liked it. You try to do your best," she said. "Maybe you try something different in practice. We had the chance to do it. Honestly it was great. I'm thankful for the tournament that gave us this opportunity. It's also for a positive thing so thank you for coming for your support, Tennis Australia Foundation and it was an amazing atmosphere, great match. It was always great to share the court with Elena and better when she doesn't serve when I serve, but it's okay. It's great to start a tournament like that and hopefully we're going to both play a great tournament."

Both players will have the upcoming Australian Open at the forefront of their minds. Rybakina will be hoping to replicate the showing in 2023 where she made the final, but with a different result at the end of it. For Paolini, she also looks to break new ground and make it past the fourth round, ideally even further.