Jasmine Paolini qualified for the semi-finals of Roland-Garros, the second Grand Slam tournament, Wednesday on Parisian clay. The Italian, ranked 15th in the WTA and 12th seed, got the better of her Kazakh opponent, Elena Rybakina (WTA 4/N.4), in three sets: 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 . The game ended after two hours of play.
After a masterfully conducted first set, Paolini seemed to have control of the match in the second set. She took a break in advance twice, but she was caught on her serve while leading 4-3. She then left two games to allow Rybakina to equalize at one set all.
In the deciding set, the two players exchanged their serves after the restart. It was at 4-4 that Jasmine Paolini made the difference, before successfully defending her commitment and winning the game.
This is by far the best result of Paolini’s career at Roland Garros, and at Grand Slams in general. Before 2024, she had never gone beyond the 2nd round of singles in the four major tournaments. She reached the 4th round at the Australian Open in January, but she has already erased this performance by reaching the semi-finals at Porte d’Auteuil.
The Italian is also entered in the doubles. She is in the quarter-finals with her compatriot Sara Errani.
In the next round, Jasmine Paolini will face the winner of a duel between two generations: the Russian Mirra Andreeva, aged 17 and 38th in the world, on the one hand, and the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, 26-year-old world No.2. The meeting will take place following the match between Paolini and Rybakina.
The other semi-final will pit the unstoppable world No.1, the Polish Iga Swiatek, against the American Coco Gauff (WTA 3) on Thursday.
