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Italian tennis is experiencing a moment of grace that was confirmed at the French Open with the classification of Jasmine Paolini to his first final in a Grand Slam, in the same tournament that already consecrated his compatriot Jannik Sinner as the brand new number 1 in the world and that on Friday he will face the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz for the ticket to the final. Paolini has already established herself in the definition by beating the Russian Mirra Andreeva 6-3 and 6-1.
The player born in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, in the Tuscan region, won a match in which her opponent, 17 years old and 38th in the rankings, could not repeat what she did in the quarterfinals against the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, number 2 in the world. Paolini, who lifted her first WTA 1000 title in Dubai this year and arrived at Roland Garros in 15th! position in the ranking and had never made it past the second round, He will leave Paris at least on the 7th step of the tour. If she hits the big blow against the Polish favorite Iga Swiatek, she will be fifth in the world.
Italian Paolini’s forehand against Russian Mirra Andreeva during their semifinal match Jean-Francois Badias – AP
The 28-year-old Italian tries to emulate her compatriots Francesca Schiavone, champion of the French Open in 2010 and finalist in 2011, and Sara Errani, who reached the final in 2021. By the way: Errani is the partner with whom Paolini will seek to settle in the final of the women’s doubles, when they clash with the Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk and the Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse, while in the other key the Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk will face the Czech Katerina Siniakova and the also American Coco Gauff.
Paolini is also the first Italian to reach a Grand Slam final since her compatriots Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci met in a historic definition blue for the 2015 US Open title. “It is an incredible feeling to reach a Grand Slam final. It seemed impossible, but it is a reality. “I never dreamed of this, but here I am and it’s something very crazy,” confessed who will try to end Swiatek’s 20-game winning streak at Roland Garros.
It will not be an easy challenge at all, because Paolini lost her two previous duels (in Prague in 2018 and at the US Open 2022), both in straight sets against the champion of the WTA 1000 in Madrid and Rome. Swiatek, in addition, seeks to become the first to celebrate three crowns in a row in France since the Belgian Justine Henin achieved it between 2005 and 2007. The Pole, who only had one upset against the Japanese Naomi Osaka in the second round (she had to come back a match-point), looks recovered and confirmed it with a categorical victory by 6-2 and 6-4 against Coco Gauff, third in the ranking who came to be in the lead in the second set, but ended up succumbing in one hour and 37 minutes .
Paolini’s celebration, which will be Top 10 from next weekEMMANUEL DUNAND – AFP
Paolini arrives in full ascendancy. Six of her ten victories on clay in the season were celebrated at Roland Garros, where she had just eliminated the Kazakh Elena Rybakina, fourth in the women’s ranking, in three sets. She was quite nervous before going out on the court, but prepared to face Mirra, who has a very consistent game. I tried to hit the ball and move fast and fight point by point. When I managed to break her serve in the first set, I started to loosen up more,” the winner admitted. Without losing the smile that accompanies her at all times, the Italian acknowledged that she expects her greatest challenge, but she highlighted: “Dreaming is the most important thing in life and in sport. “I am very happy and I try to enjoy this moment.”
Jasmine Paolini vs. Iga Swiatek, the grand final of Roland Garros 2024; The Pole, No. 1 in the WTA ranking and current champion, arrives as a great favoriteALAIN JOCARD – AFP
“I’m a normal person, I don’t have anything special, that’s just me. It has been a long journey, I started playing tennis when I was 5 years old and that’s when I fell in love with this sport. I started training to be a professional, I dreamed of having fun in this profession, but I never dreamed of being a Grand Slam champion or being number 1, I never dreamed so big. Maybe I didn’t even dream of being Top 10. It’s incredible to see videos of Sinner, when she was 15 years old, saying that her dream is to be No. 1; For me, all this has been very different,” said Paolini, who reached his first grand final after several seasons in which he did not go beyond the second round in the Grand Slams, and only crossed the barrier of the second week last January. , when he reached the round of 16 at the Australian Open. The big jump in the ranking came in 2022, when she entered the Top 50. She has, so far, only two WTA titles, one in Portoroz 2021 and the one she achieved a few months ago in Dubai, in addition to three other finals.
The two-handed backhand of Paolini, who had just achieved another resounding victory over Rybakina, fourth player in the rankingDIMITAR DILKOFF – AFP
Before playing the most important match of her career on Saturday, the Italian will seek her ticket to the women’s doubles final, which will be played on Sunday, prior to the men’s singles final. It is not the only definition with the presence of “azzurri” players, because Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori beat the Indian Rohan Bopanna and the Australian Matthew Ebden 7-5, 2-6 and 6-2, and await in the men’s doubles final to the winners of the clash between the Salvadoran Marcelo Arévalo and the Croatian Mate Pavic the number 1 couple, which is made up of the Argentine Horacio Zeballos and the Spanish Marcell Granollers.
“I have no idea what is happening and I say it from the heart: I have no words to explain these successes and to express my emotion,” summarized Angelo Binaghi, president of the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation, recalling that “we They said that we Italians were not capable of winning half a game. And now what will they say? I hope this is not a dream, but if it were, I don’t want to be woken up,” the leader concluded by recognizing Sinner, a figure of the peninsular team that won the Davis Cup for the second time, as the great architect of this historic moment in Italian tennis. last November, after 47 years of waiting.
With information from ANSA
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2024-06-06 22:05:00
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