PARIS (AP) — Jasmine Paolini reached the first Grand Slam semifinal of her career by beating No. 4 seed Elena Rybakina 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 at the French Open on Wednesday.
"It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Paolini said.
The 12th-seeded Paolini, a 28-year-old from Italy, exited in the first or second round in each of her first 16 Grand Slam appearances before making it to the fourth round of the Australian Open in January. Now she's gone two steps further by eliminating the 2022 Wimbledon champion.
With Jannik Sinner into the men’s semifinals, it is the first time an Italian woman and Italian man both have appeared in the final four at the same Grand Slam tournament in the same year. It's quite a moment for their country in tennis: On Monday, Sinner will become the first man to be No. 1 in the ATP rankings.
Paolini will met No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka or unseeded 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva on Thursday for a berth in the title match.
The other semifinal will be No. 1 Iga Swiatek against No. 3 Coco Gauff.
Paolini finished with 22 unforced errors, fewer than half of Rybakina's 48. And Paolini accumulated seven breaks against the big-serving Rybakina, who hit 10 aces.
“I (got) a little bit too emotional in the second set," Paolini said. “But then I said to myself: ‘OK. It’s good. She’s a great champion so it can happen. Just fight. Try to keep it there. Try to hit every ball.’ And, yeah, it worked.”
The first set could not have gone better for Paolini — or worse for Rybakina.
Paolini took the first 15 points she served, and 16 of 17 overall. She grabbed 16 of 32 points Rybakina served.
And while Paolini deserved credit for playing cleanly and showing zero signs of being overwhelmed by the stage or the moment, Rybakina was way off. By set's end, Rybakina had made 16 unforced errors — 15 more than Paolini.
In the second, Paolini twice went up by a break, including for a 4-3 lead. When she led 40-15 in the next game, Paolini was one point from going up 5-3 and being a game away from by far the biggest victory of her career.
But Rybakina steadied herself, broke there and ran through the last three games to force a third set.
Again, Paolini kept moving in front, then getting reeled back in. She was up a break in the last set at 1-0, then at 2-1, and was a point from going up 3-1. Rybakina would not fade and kept breaking back.
But Paolini broke one last time for a 5-4 edge, then served out the victory and let out a yell when Rybakina sent a backhand long.
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
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