Italian Jasmine Paolini Stuns Elena Rybakina at Roland-Garros, reaches first Grand Slam semifinal

The Italian Jasmine Paolini (WTA 15) created a surprise by beating the Kazakh Elena Rybakina (4) 6-2 4-6 6-4 at Roland-Garros. She thus reached the last four of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

“It’s unbelievable… the match was very difficult and I was too tense in the second set, but I stayed in the match and here I am!”, said the 28-year-old player in her hoarse voice. had never made it past the round of 16 in a Grand Slam (reached in Australia this year). At Roland Garros, she had never made it past the 2nd round.

Well helped by the avalanche of unforced errors committed by her opponent (48 in total against 22 for Paolini), the twirling Italian was able to display her broad smile.

Rybakina delicately on her serve

Against all expectations, Paolini took the powerful Rybakina into play from the outset, whose service is one of the main weapons. But this weapon was out of whack since Rybakina still had to defend 2 break points in her 2nd service game, which she ended up winning.

And on the contrary, it was Paolini who showed herself to be sovereign in her play, winning blanks in her first 3 service games (with an ace to boot) and even leaving only a single point to her opponent who, she , increased the number of unforced errors (16 out of 49 points played in total in the 1st set, or a third).

Solid Paulines

In the 2nd set, again, Paolini, very aggressive, quickly achieved the break (2-1). But this time, Rybakina immediately picked up (2-2).

New exchange of services from 3-3 to 4-4 as the game became tense. And Rybakina equalized at one set all by breaking in the final game of the set while Paolini’s success declined.

And once again, it was she who started the decisive round best with a new break, immediately erased, then a second, erased again. The players thus remained neck and neck until 4-4. The Italian then took Rybakina’s challenge for the 7th time and concluded with her serve.

>> Also read:: Sabalenka bites the dust against young Andreeva

ats/pc

2024-06-05 18:46:18
#Paolini #qualifies #Grand #Slam #semifinal #rts.ch