Jasmine Paolini in history: first Italian in Wimbledon final

Jasmine Paolini screams as loud as can be under the roar of the centre court: she is in the final at Wimbledon, the first Italian in history! She had never passed a round on English grass in previous years and today she is almost at the end of the race, a dream realised by beating Croatian Donna Vekic in three sets, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6. It was a match of almost three hours, with two faces, tense and painful, in which her grit and her ability to believe even when she was in great difficulty prevailed. It was the longest women's semi-final in Wimbledon history.

Jasmine started off contracted, on two points she was broken, Vekic won the 4-2 game despite two double faults thanks to errors by the Italian, who did not even hold her next serve: the set ended in 35 minutes, with the Croatian playing with confidence, aggressiveness and always in command.

The Italian reacted in the opening of the second set, the crowd all on her side. She held her serves with difficulty, she was still not herself with her groundstrokes, but she hung on, cancelling the break points she conceded (also thanks to a couple of forehands missed by Vekic) and then went on to take the set with grit at 5-4 (thanks to a double fault by the Croatian), while the centre court almost came down!

The third set was rocambolic and painful, with a series of breaks and counter-breaks, the tension rising, the errors following each other along with the winners. Jasmine went ahead 5-4 with an imperious serve and in the next game she procured a match point that she was unable to finalise. Then, on 5 even, a game that never ended: the Italian cancelled two break points before going ahead after almost ten minutes 6-5 and missing a second match point (in which Vekic closed, after a long and dramatic exchange, with a forehand winner). Finally the super tie break, with the two players neck and neck again until 9-8, when Jasmine grabbed the third match point and this time closed the score! "It was so hard, she played great, victor everywhere. I kept telling myself to fight on every ball, point after point, there is no better place to do it than on this court. I am so happy. I will always remember this match,' said the now world number 5 with her voice broken by emotion in the post-match interview, thanking the crowd for the support. Jasmine is the first tennis player to win the Paris and London Slam finals in the same year since 2016, when Serena Williams did it.

The Italian, 28 years old, before her success with Vekic (who had eliminated Coco Gauf, let's not forget) beat Emma Navarro in the quarters with a dry 6-2, 6-1 in less than an hour, in a path that began in the first round against the Spaniard Sorribes Tormo, then the Belgian Minnen, then the Canadian Andreescu and in the eighth round the American Keys (who retired at 5-all in the third). In the final she will play against the Czech Barbora Krejcikova (winner in Paris in 2021) who defeated the favourite Elena Rybakina (former champion at Wimbledon in 2022) in three sets, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.