Paolini enjoys first home Italian Open win for 40 years

[Pelican Press 0]

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Paolini enjoys first home Italian Open win for 40 years

Jasmine Paolini has got the party started at the Foro Italico — and now the stage is set for Jannik Sinner to cap it off.

Paolini took advantage of the Roman crowd’s passionate support and beat Coco Gauff 6-4 6-2 to become the first home player to win the Italian Open in 40 years on Saturday.

With world No.1 Sinner to play Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s final on Sunday, Italy could enjoy its first sweep of the Rome singles titles.

The last Italian woman to win the open was Raffaella Reggi in 1985 in Taranto, with the last home man to raise the trophy being Adriano Panatta in 1976.

When Paolini hit a big serve down the T on her second championship point and Gauff couldn’t get it back, she celebrated with a big smile and raised her arms as she spun around in joy.

“It doesn’t seem real to me,” she said. “I came here as a kid to see this tournament but winning it and holding up this trophy wasn’t even in my dreams.”

Paolini and partner Sara Errani are also in the women’s doubles final and will play Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens for that trophy, too, on Sunday.

“It’s been two incredible weeks and it’s not finished yet,” Paolini said.

With the country’s tennis ***** in full force, Italy President Sergio Mattarella attended the women’s final on Campo Centrale.

The fifth-ranked Paolini was the runner-up at the French Open and Wimbledon last year and led Italy to the Billie Jean King Cup title, while also winning Olympic gold in doubles with Errani at the Paris Olympics.

She will move up to No.4 in the rankings on Monday, which will improve her position in the draw for the French Open starting next weekend.

Gauff, the 2023 US Open champion who was ranked No.3, made a whopping 55 unforced errors to Paolini’s 20 and hit seven double faults to Paolini’s none.

It’s the second time in two clay-court tournaments that Gauff has finished runner-up, having lost the Madrid Open final two weeks ago to Aryna Sabalenka.

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