Italy reached their second consecutive Billie Jean King Cup Final with a 2-1 win over Poland.
Olympic gold medallists Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini clinched the decisive doubles match by beating Iga Swiatek and Katarzyna Kawa 7-5 7-5.
Paolini and Errani saved three break points before breaking the Poles’serve to win the first set 7-5.
Swiatek and Kawa were broken in the first game of the second set before winning five consecutive games to race out to a 5-1 lead. Paolini and Errani fought back by winning five consecutive games to earn a chance to serve for the match. They sealed the win on their first match point to send four-time Billie Jean King Cup champions into the final.
World number 2 Iga Swiatek came back from one set down to beat Jasmine Paolini 3-6 6-4 6-4 in a thrilling second singles match in the semifinals of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Malaga.
Paolini entered the match with Italy in the lead thanks to an earlier win by Lucia Bronzetti.
Paolini had won just nine games in her three previous head-to-head matches against Swiatek.
Swiatek broke for the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead, but Paolini won the final four games with two breaks of serve to close out the opening set 6-3.
Paolini came back from one break down to win a set against Swiatek for the first time in four head-to-head matches. The Italian player hit eight winners over the first nine games. Swiatek fended off 13 of the 16 break points she faced in the match, including all five in the second set before she broke Paolini in the 10th game to win the second set 6-4.
Swiatek saved four break points to hold serve after five deuces before breaking serve in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. Paolini broke straight back in the fifth game and held serve at deuce to draw level to 3-3. Swiatek earned her second break in the 10th game to close out the third set 6-4.
Earlier today Lucia Bronzetti beat Magda Linette 6-4 7-6 (7-3) to give Italy a 1-0 lead.
Bronzetti won seven of the next nine game from 3-3 in the first set. Linete reeled off four consecutive games from 1-4 down to take a 5-4 lead. The Polish was a game away from forcing a third set twice but Bronzetti won the tie-break 7-3.
Italy will face either Great Britain or Slovakia in the final.
