JASMINE Paolini defeated Donna Vekic in the Wimbledon semifinals on Thursday (11/7) to become the first Italian tennis player to advance to the final of the grasscourt Grand Slam tournament.
In one of the best matches of the year at Wimbledon, Paolini failed to capitalise on two match points and trailed 8-7 in a 10-point tie-break before coming back to win.
The match between Paolini and Vekic lasted 2 hours and 51 minutes, breaking the record for the longest women’s singles match in a Wimbledon semifinal.
Paolini advanced to the final with a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10/8) victory.
In the final, Paolini will face Czech 31st seed Barbora Krejcikova, who beat 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
That means there will definitely be a new Wimbledon champion at this year’s event.
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Paolini, who had never won at Wimbledon before this year’s event, said: “I managed to win despite a lot of bad serves. It’s a match I will remember forever.”
“I just tried to take points one by one because this match was very tough,” he continued.
Vekic, who injured her right arm, was seen crying before the match entered the tiebreak.
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“I felt like I was going to die in the third set,” Vekic said at the end of the match. “I had a lot of pain in my hands and feet. It was not easy but I will recover.”
“I cried more because I was in pain. I didn’t know how I might continue playing. The team told me I should be proud of myself,” he continued.
Paolini lost in the French Open final in May. She became the first woman to reach the French Open and Wimbledon finals in the same year since Serena Williams in 2016. (bbc/Z-1)
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