Jasmine Paolini harnessed the crowd’s energy to defeat Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-2, becoming the first Italian woman in 40 years to claim the Italian Open title Saturday.
With Italy’s top-ranked Jannik Sinner set to face Carlos Alcaraz in Sunday’s men’s final, the nation stands poised for its first Rome Open singles sweep.
The last Italian woman to win was Raffaella Reggi in 1985 at Taranto, while the last homegrown male champion was Adriano Panatta in 1976.
Paolini sealed the victory with a powerful serve down the T on her second championship point, prompting a joyful celebration as she raised her arms and spun with a radiant smile.
“It doesn’t seem real to me,” Paolini said. “I came here as a kid to see this tournament, but winning it and holding up this trophy wasn’t even in my dreams.”
Before the trophy ceremony, the crowd chanted, “Ole, ole, ole, Jas-mine, Jas-mine,” and Paolini responded by forming her hands into a heart shape.
“The crowd has been incredible,” Paolini said.
Paolini and partner Sara Errani are also in the women’s doubles final and will play Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens for that trophy Sunday.
“It’s been two incredible weeks, and it’s not finished yet,” Paolini said.
With the country’s tennis boom in full force, Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella attended the women’s final at the Foro Italico.
Numerous fans held aloft Italian flags and constantly shouted, “Vai Jasmine” (“Go Jasmine”).
The fifth-ranked Paolini was runner-up at the French Open and Wimbledon and led Italy to the Billie Jean King Cup title last year. She and Errani also won gold in doubles at the Paris Olympics.
Paolini will move up to No. 4 in the rankings Monday, improving her position in the draw for the French Open starting next weekend.
Despite her success last year, Paolini recently made a coaching change, replacing Renzo Furlan with Marc Lopez. Errani is also almost always with her and acts as an unofficial coach.
Gauff, the 2023 U.S. Open champion who was ranked No. 3, struggled with unforced errors and double faults.
Gauff made 55 unforced errors to Paolini’s 20 and hit seven double faults to her opponent’s none. The final lasted just under 1,5 hours.
It’s the second time in two clay-court tournaments that Gauff has finished runner-up. She lost the Madrid Open final two weeks ago to Aryna Sabalenka.
Gauff was coming off the longest match of her career, a 3.5-hour victory over Zheng Qinwen in the semifinals that ended early Friday morning.
Paolini also beat Gauff at a clay-court event in Stuttgart, Germany, in April.
Monica Seles in 1990 was the last woman to sweep Rome’s singles and doubles titles in the same year.
