Jasmine Paolini beat Peyton Stearns 7-5 6-1 to become the third Italian player in history ro reach the final at the Internazionali d’Italia and the first since her doubles partner Sara Errani finished runner-up to in 2014.
Paolini has reached the eighth final of her career the fourth at WTA 1000 level or above following Dubai, Roland Garros.
Stearns reached her first WTA 1000 semifinal by beating Grand Slam champions Naomi Osaka, Madison Keys and two-time Rome champion Elina Svitolina. The world number 42 became the first player in the Open Era to win three consecutive matches in third-set tie-breaks.
The US player broke serve in the second game to take a 2-0 lead after Paolini made a double fault. Stearns held serve at 15 to race out to a 3-0 lead. Gauff held two break points for 4-0, but Paolini saved them to hold serve for 1-3 in the fourth game. Paolini won the next three games to get back on serve for 3-4. Stearns earned another break in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead. Paolini saved the first set point before breaking back with a return winner in the next game. Stearns netted a forehand on her second set point in the next game before Paolini hit a forehand winner on the next point.
Paolini won 10 of the last 11 games from 3-5 down. The 2024 Roland Garros and Wimbledon finalist broke serve in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. She converted her third break point in the fifth game to open up a 4-1 lead and sealed the win with a third break of serve in the seventh game.
Paolini holds a 21-8 record this year. She reached two semifinals in Miami and Stuttfart.
“It’s a dream of mine to get to the final here. It was a difficult start, thank goodness you were all here to give me a boost. I didn’t have a great feeling at the beginning of the match, but I’m really happy about how I managed to turn it around”, said Paolini.
Paolini set up a final against Coco Gauff, who battled past Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 7-6 (7-3) in 3 hours and 32 minutes in the second semifinal after being a break down in the final set. Gauff becomes the first US player to reach the final in Rome since Serena Williams beat Madison Keys in 2016.
The match featured a streak of 13 consecutive games featuring a break point and a total of 44 break points and 19 breaks. Gauff hit 27 winners to Zheng’s 22.
Gauff came back from a break down in the opening set.
Gauff let slip a 5-3 lead in the first set, but she capitalized om Zheng’s double fault to win the tie-break of the first set 7-3.
Zheng converted her third break point in the second game of the third set and held serve at 30 to open up a 3-0 lead. Gauff broke back at love in the seventh game for 3-4. Zheng broke for the second time in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead. Gauff broke straight back for the second time in the ninth game but Zheng closed out the second set with a break in the 10th game.
Zheng won three consecutive games from 2-3 down in the third set to take a 5-3 lead. Zheng dropped serve from 30-15 down. Neither player dropped a point on serve to set up a decisive tie-break. Zheng earned an early mini-break to open up a 2-0 lead. Gauff won seven of the next nine points to win the tie-break 7-3 reachin her second consecutive WTA clay court final this year after finishing runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka in Madrid.
“Oh God, it means a lot. Third time’s a charm”, Gauff told the crowd after the match.
Gauff leads 2-1 in her three head-to-head matches against Paolini. However, Paolini beat Gauff on indoor clay court in Stuttgart last month.
