Jasmine Paolini reaches Wimbledon final after epic three-set win over Donna Vekic

CNN
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Jasmine Paolini became the first Italian woman in history to reach the Wimbledon She reached the final after defeating Donna Vekic 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(8) in a classic match throughout history.

At two hours and 51 minutes, it was the longest women’s singles semi-final in Wimbledon history, and the win meant Paolini became the first woman since Serena Williams in 2016 to reach the French Open and Wimbledon finals in the same season.

“It was a really tough match today,” said seventh seed Paolini in an on-court interview. “She played unbelievable, she was hitting winners everywhere. I was struggling a little bit at the beginning, I was telling myself to fight for every ball and try to improve my game a little bit on the court. But I’m very happy with the win, and I think this is a match I will remember forever.”

“I was trying to think about what I should do on the court point by point, and I kept repeating to myself that there is no better place than here where I can fight for every ball and every point. For a tennis player, this is the best place to play a match like this, and thank you very much for cheering me on,” she said to a standing ovation from the Centre Court crowd.

“The last month has been crazy for me. I’m just trying to focus on what I have to do on the court, and enjoy what I’m doing because I love playing tennis. It’s amazing to be here and playing on this court. It’s a dream. I used to watch the Wimbledon finals when I was a kid, so I’m just enjoying it and just living in the present.”

Vikic – who was making an offer for Becomes first Croatian woman to reach Grand Slam final Not since Eva Majoli at the 1997 French Open, according to tennis author Bastien Vachand, has Paolini broken serve twice to lead by a set.

But Paolini, who admitted she was “serving really badly” at the start of the match, quickly found her rhythm in the second set. The match was very tense, with Paolini only breaking Vekic’s serve in the final game of the set.

In the unforgettable decisive third set, the duo exchanged breaks of serve twice to tie the score at 5-5.

Vekic, ranked 37th in the world, then had a break point to close in on victory, but Hawk-Eye showed her shot was just three millimeters off, eventually allowing Pollini to hold serve.

Vekic began to cry at the change of game, but she managed to calm down remarkably to hold serve and force Paolini into a tiebreak, which she won after nearly three hours of brilliant tennis.

At 28 years old, Paulini has so far enjoyed the best season of her career.

She has steadily climbed the rankings since breaking into the top 100 in 2019 and in February this year won the prestigious WTA Dubai 1000 tennis tournament, only the second title of her career.

She then reached her first Grand Slam final at the French Open last month, where she was defeated by Iga Swiatek.

Paolini will play in the final on Saturday against the winner of the match between Elena Rybakina and Barbora Krejcikova.