Jasmine Paolini reached her second consecutive Grand Slam final with a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8) victory over unseeded Donna Vekic at Wimbledon on Thursday in a rollicking match that lasted 2 hours, and 51 minutes.
A month after reaching a historic final in Paris at Roland Garros 2024, Jasmine Paolini continues to make history at Wimbledon 2024. Jasmine Paolini won a final-set tie-break to stamp her ticket to the Wimbledon final with victory over Donna Vekic. The 28-year-old is the first Italian woman to reach the final of the grass-court Grand Slam.
Jasmine Paolini roared back from a set down to claim a place in her first Wimbledon final with a 2-6 6-4 7-6(8) win over Donna Vekic.
It continues a remarkable 2024 for the world No. 7, who has progressed to her second Grand Slam final this year after her Roland-Garros loss to Iga Swiatek last month.
Paolini will face 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova for the title on Saturday. Krejcikova eliminated 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the second semifinal.
So, who is Jasmine Paolini? Here’s everything you need to know about the rising tennis star:
At 19, Paolini made her debut among the bigs at the Internazionali di Roma qualifiers; then, in 2017, she first participated in the qualifiers of a Slam. She never made it past the second round at any major tournament — losing in the first or second round at 16 appearances in a row until she got to the fourth round at the Australian Open in January. But the turning point came thanks to a collaboration with Renzo Furlan, a coach who at first—due to commitments already made with the Serbian national team—followed her part-time.
After these, 2024 has been a breakthrough campaign for Paolini, who reached her maiden Grand Slam final at the French Open before losing to world number one Iga Swiatek.
Without a win at the All England Club heading into the tournament, Paolini now has six victories under her belt and has dropped just two sets in the process.
“You know there is no place better than here to fight for every ball and every point,” Paolini said.
“I was struggling at the beginning. I was serving badly, so I’m so happy. This match I will remember forever.”
Through her first five matches, Paolini had served wide 110 times, into the opponent’s body 93 times, and down the center 121 times. On Thursday, another day of varied targets, her first serve averaged 97.3mph, compared with 110 for Vekic. Spots over speed.
She has read the book on how to beat shorter players over and over. She has written her book on how to combat that.
