Cincinnati [US], August 18 : Jasmine Paolini made it to her first Cincinnati Open finals, defeating Veronika Kudermetova in a well-fought semifinal clash.
Paolini downed Veronika by 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3. This is Paolini's second WTA 1000-level final and overall third. She won the previous two finals, the Italian Open in May this year and the Dubai Championships last year.
The victory came when Paolini looked in full control, leading by 6-3, 5-4 in the second set. She had not faced much pressure, but then things started to change as Veronika made a comeback in the second set, taking things to a tie-break, which Jasmine won, keeping her calm.
From then on, Jasmine did not look back and won the third set rather easily.
Speaking about the win as per the official WTA website, Paolini said, "Until that moment, everything was fine. I was okay, I was focused, a bit relaxed. And then I was really nervous. I said to myself after losing the tiebreak that I had to step back and move forward, you know, be in the present and not think about what happened."
"That was the key - to forget, to fight and be in the present," she added.
Paolini is the first Italian woman in the Open era to reach the singles final in Cincinnati.
She has booked her title clash with Poland star Iga Swiatek, who downed Elena Rybakina 7-5, 6-3 to make it to her first final at Cincinnati.
Having lost two semifinals here previously, the number three seed was trailing 5-3 in one set, but from there, the Wimbledon champion won 10 out of 13 games to secure her fourth successive win against Rybakina.
She has reached the finals of the last four tournaments thrice and will be aiming for her 11th WTA 1000 title.
Following her match, Swiatek said, "Oh my God, for sure that was a tough match. At the beginning, the level was pretty crazy; sometimes, we could not even run to the second ball ... but I was there to play with intensity, good quality, and I am happy with the performance."
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