Jasmine Paolini is through to her maiden Wimbledon final where she will face Barbora Krejcikova after both survived their Semi final opponents by coming from behind to win
Paolini who have never won a match at the All England Club before this summer, is one win away from lifting the Venus Rosewater Dish after a rollercoaster 2-6 6-4 7-6 (10-8) success over a tearful Donna Vekic.
Seventh seed Paolini lost the opener thanks to Vekic’s explosive hitting before she levelled up, but found herself 3-1 down in the third.
Even when the French Open runner-up broke back, Vekic immediately responded with a break of her own, but Paolini would not be denied and, as her opponent battled to hold back tears, the Italian held her nerve to win a thrilling tie-break to book her place in Saturday’s final.
The match, which lasted close to three hours, set a new record for the longest-ever Wimbledon women’s semi-final.
Paolini is the second player in the Open Era to reach the women’s singles final at Wimbledon without a main draw win coming into that year’s event after Justine Henin in 2001
Paolini is also the first Italian female player in the Open Era:
- to reach the Wimbledon final
- make Grand Slam finals at different events (French Open and Wimbledon)
- earn 15 wins in the first three majors of the year
- reach WTA finals on hard, clay and grass in a season
Her opponent in Saturday’s final Czech Krejcikova seeded 31 stunned former champion Rybakina
In the second match on Centre Court
Fourth seed Rybakina smashed 19 winners on her way to claiming a one-sided opener and looked to have also started the second set the stronger
But the 2021 French Open winner, who had triumphed in her two previous meetings with Rybakina, gradually grew into the contest and claimed the second set 6-3 to force a decider.
She waited patiently to strike with a break in the seventh game of the third set and it ultimately proved enough to send her through to Saturday’s final.
Krejcikova will now hope to follow in the footsteps of her fellow Czech Marketa Vondrousova, winner of the women’s singles here 12 months ago, while Rybakina’s defeat guarantees an eighth different champion in eight years.
Krejcikova also paid tribute to Jana Novotna, who won Wimbledon in 1998 and coached the Czech player before her death in 2017.
