Jasmine Paolini has reached her first Grand Slam final after defeating Russia’s Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 6-1 in Paris on Thursday.
Paolini, the 28-year-old Italian 12th seed, will play world No. 1, three-time champion, and two-time defending champion Iga Swiatek in the French Open final at Roland Garros on Saturday, after holding her nerve against rising star Andreeva who looks likely to have many more opportunities to go one step further on tennis’ biggest stage.
Paolini was able to fend off three break points at 3-1 in the first set immediately after breaking the Russian’s serve, moving 4-1 ahead to take what would prove to be a decisive lead. She repeated the trick at 4-2, saving two break points to avoid what would have been 3-4 on Andreeva’s serve, and forcing her opponent to play from well behind.
Andreeva’s resolve seemed to crack in the second set, as she was broken three consecutive times, including to love in the final game, to see Paolini over the line. The Italian’s superior first-serve percentage, 78 per cent to 65 per cent, proved crucial, with Andreeva winning just five of 16 points behind her second serve, and Paolini winning eight of 13 behind her own. Paolini hit 14 winners to Andreeva’s 11, and just 10 unforced errors compared to 30 from the 17-year-old.
Paolini is the first Italian woman to reach a Grand Slam final in nine years, since the all-Italian U.S. Open final between Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci in 2015.
‘A triumph for perseverance’
Analysis from Charlie Eccleshare
Paolini’s run at this year’s French Open is a triumph for perseverance.
This is a player who until January this year had never been beyond the second round of a Grand Slam, doing so having just turned 28 by reaching the last 16 at the Australian Open.
And now, here she is, in her first major final.
For so long, Paolini, who stands at just 5ft 4in, was considered too underpowered to seriously threaten the best players in the sport. But despite her size, Paolini’s groundstrokes from the back of the court have serious weight, and she was able to move Andreeva around here with crafty use of angles and changes of direction — just as she had done to Elena Rybakina in Wednesday’s semifinal — to ultimately dominate the baseline exchanges.
Paolini’s late blooming follows a trend for Italian women. Flavia Pennetta reached her first Grand Slam final aged 33, which she won by defeating another Italian Roberta Vinci, who was in her first Grand Slam final aged 32, at the 2015 U.S. Open. Francesca Schiavone reached her first Grand Slam final just before her 30th birthday, beating Li Na to win the 2010 French Open. And speaking of Italian tennis, what a couple of days it’s been, with Jannik Sinner, who faces Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s semi-final tomorrow, confirmed on Tuesday as the country’s first ever male world No. 1 when the rankings are updated next week.
As for Paolini, she puts much of her success this year down to shedding the inferiority complex that she had in the early part of her career. That encouraging run in Melbourne helped in this regard, and she really started to believe after winning the Dubai Tennis Championships, a 1000 event one rung below the Grand Slams, a month later. Paolini said on Wednesday: “Honestly, I don’t know why I didn’t believe in myself.”
This shouldn’t be a problem going forward, though we don’t know yet whether this will be a one-off annus mirabilis or the start of something bigger. What we do know is that Saturday’s final will represent a huge challenge, with Paolini facing Swiatek. But with her ranking expected to shoot up from No. 15 to a career-high of No. 7 even if she loses, this has been some tournament for the extremely popular Italian.
(Franco Arland / Getty Images)
