Jasmine Paolini etched her name in Italian tennis history on Saturday by defeating Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-2 to win the Italian Open, securing her second WTA 1000 title just weeks before the start of Roland Garros.
Late bloomer Paolini, who also won in Dubai last year, is the first Italian woman to win the Rome event since Raffaella Reggi in 1985 after overcoming former U.S. Open champion Gauff in straight sets.
The hugely popular 29-year-old delighted the packed center court at the Foro Italico by winning the first of a potential three titles for local players at this year's event in the Italian capital.
And after reaching two Grand Slam finals last year Paolini, who will be world No. 4 on Monday, will be gunning to go one better in Paris after a brilliant home tournament.
"Every time I go out onto the court, I try to do so with joy, with passion and with a certain amount of calm," Paolini told reporters.
"It's important for me to go our there and try to have fun, not take things lightly as such but at the same time not have too much in the way of expectations.
"I do what I love for my job and that makes me hugely lucky."
Paolini danced with joy on court and some fans openly bawled in the stands after a "dream week."
Later Sunday, Paolini became the first woman since Monica Seles in 1990 to win the Italian Open singles and doubles titles when she and Sara Errani beat Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens 6-4, 7-5.
The Italian duo, who delivered Italy their first-ever Olympic tennis gold in Paris last year, came back from four games down in both sets to retain their title.
Paolini is the oldest woman to win her first Rome title during the Open Era, while Gauff, eight years Paolini's junior, missed out on becoming the youngest American to take the crown since Serena Williams back in 2002.
Similarly to her battling semifinal win over Zheng Qinwen, Gauff made 55 unforced errors to go with seven double faults on serve, making Paolini's life unnecessarily easy.
Gauff, also a loser in the Madrid final earlier this month, was visibly livid with her performance, which started with a double fault and continued with sloppy shots throughout the match.
"Hopefully I can get to the final in Roland Garros and maybe the 'third time lucky' thing is a real thing," Gauff told reporters.
"I made the final with those errors. Made the final maybe not playing my best tennis. It just gives me confidence if I can find that good form heading into Roland Garros, I can do well there."
Gauff, who will nevertheless be world number two heading into the French Open, lost five of her nine service games and ended a poor evening's work with a failed service return attempt which handed Paolini possibly the biggest win of her career.
