Photo Source: TC
Jasmine Paolini became the first Italian woman to reach the Rome final since 2014 on Thursday, defeating American Peyton Stearns, 7-5, 6-1 at the storied Foro Italico.
The 29-year-old had never been beyond the third round at the biggest tournament held on her home soil, but she has been a different player ever since she reached back-to-back major finals at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon last year.
Now ranked fifth in the world, Paolini can rise to No.4 if she wins the title in Rome. If she succeeds she will become the first Italian woman to win Rome since Rafaella Reggi in 1985.
Paolini showed off her trademark grit and rode it to glory before a packed house in Campo Centrale on Thursday.
After a slow start against the 42nd-ranked American, Paolini started to take control of proceedings with her forehand. Stearns led 3-0 and 4-1, but Paolini broke back for 4-3 and survived a pushback from the resilient American, who had become the first WTA player to win three consecutive third-set tiebreaks at a WTA main draw event in history with wins over Madison Keys, Naomi Osaka and Elina Svitolina, later in the opening set.
Former University of Texas Longhorn Stearns took a 5-3 lead and had a set point with Paolini serving at 4-5, 30-40, but she was pegged back as the Italian took the final three games of the set for 7-5.
Despite the loss, valiant Stearns had shown her stripes in Rome. She spent 10 hours and eight minutes on court to get through five wins to reach her first WTA 1000 semifinal on her main draw debut, including an epic win over Naomi Osaka that saw her running on fumes and vomiting into a courtside trash can. She was left with very little in the tank as Paolini pulled away in the final set to take the victory by winning ten of the final 11 games.
Stearns will face the winner of Thursday’s semifinal between Coco Gauff and Zheng Qinwen in the final.