LONDON-. Jasmine Paolini reached his second consecutive Grand Slam final by beating 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8) Woman Vekic on Thursday in Wimbledon in a fun match lasting two hours and 51 minutes, which became the longest duel in a women’s semi-final of the tournament.
“This duel,” said Paolini, 28. “I will remember it forever.”
Like many of those in attendance, Paolini kept coming back and coming back and coming back — after losing the first set, being down two games to win after being tied at 4 in the second, being down by a break in the third at 3-1 and 4-3 on Centre Court.
“It was a roller coaster of emotions,” he added.
Consider this: Vekic, making her Grand Slam semifinal debut, finished with more points (118-111), winners (42-26) and breaks of serve (4-3).
But the seventh seeded Italian never gave up and eventually converted her third match point. This display on the grass of the All England Club comes after she reached the final on clay last month at Roland Garros and lost to Iga Swiatek.
Paolini, 28, is the first woman to reach the title match at the French Open and Wimbledon in the same season since Serena Williams in 2015 and 2016.
“These past few months have been crazy for me,” Paolini admitted with a laugh.
Paolini will face the winner of the other semi-final between Elena Rybakina and Barbora Krejcikova in the championship match on Saturday.
Paolini’s victory was not easy for either of them. Vekic at times appeared distraught, crying between points or sitting in her chair in the third set. She iced her right forearm between games or turned toward the visitors’ box.
But how surprising has Paolini’s improvement been?
She had never made it past the second round of a major — losing in the first or second round in 16 consecutive appearances — until she reached the fourth round at the Australian Open in January. She was also 0-3 at Wimbledon so far. In fact, she had no wins on grass until a warm-up event in Eastbourne last month.
Source: AP