Historic Win: Jasmine Paolini Advances to Wimbledon Finals

Jasmine Paolini reached the Wimbledon finals, defeating Donna Vekic in the longest semifinal in tournament history. Paolini's victory marks her as the first Italian woman to achieve this milestone during the Open Era.

Jasmine Paolini, the number seven seed, advanced to the Wimbledon finals after defeating Donna Vekic in the longest semifinal in Wimbledon history on Thursday. Paolini triumphed over Vekic with scores of 2-6, 6-4, 7-6[8], in a match lasting two hours and 51 minutes, making her the first Italian woman ever to reach the finals in the Open Era.

The previous record for the longest Wimbledon semifinal was set in 2009 by Serena Williams and Elena Dementieva. Paolini, who was the runner-up at Roland Garros last month to Iga Swiatek, has now reached her second major final, becoming the first player since Serena Williams in 2016 to reach the finals of both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same season. Notably, she is the fifth player in the past 25 years to achieve this feat, joining the ranks of Stefanie Graf, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, and Justine Henin.

Paolini faced her first match point at 5-4 during the third set and another at 6-5. She eventually edged Vekic in a gripping tie-break, registering her third win in four encounters against the Croatian. Remarkably, Paolini had never won a grass-court match at tour level before 2024. She now boasts a record of eight wins on the surface, with only one loss to Daria Kasatkina in the Eastbourne semifinals two weeks ago. By advancing to the finals, Paolini is set to debut in the top five of the WTA Rankings next week.

In a post-match interview, Paolini acknowledged her struggle against Vekic. 'She was playing unbelievable, hitting winners everywhere. I was struggling at the beginning and told myself to fight for every ball and improve on the court, as my serving was really poor,' she said, as quoted by the WTA website.

'This match I will remember forever,' Paolini exclaimed.