Jasmine Paolini booked her place in a second successive grand slam final as she won the longest-lasting women’s semi-final in Wimbledon history to defeat Donna Vekic 2-6, 6-4, 7-6.
It was a thrilling, undulating contest which lasted two hours and 51 minutes, Vekic barely able to walk between points in the latter stages while Paolini looked like she could run all day.
Vekic had saved match points in two separate games in the final set, which was aptly decided by a tiebreak which the smiling Italian just edged 10-8.
Following a win that for the early part of the match had looked highly unlikely, she said: “It was really tough today. She played unbelievable. She was hitting winners everywhere. I was struggling at the beginning. I was telling myself to fight for every ball.
“I’m so happy with this one. This match I will remember forever I think. Thank you for cheering for me.”
The result was particularly brutal for Vekic, who was clearly hampered by a forearm issue and broke down in tears in the latter stages, and yet still regrouped to push her opponent to the final rally.
For the first set and much of the second, the French Open runner-up seemed like she was simply clinging onto the coat tails of Vekic, whose power game the Italian had no answer to.
But undeterred, Paolini maintained her game of scrambling to all ends of the court as well as mixing things up with looping forehands, lobs and drop shots to break the Vekic rhythm.
And it had the desired effect for the 28-year-old, who had never previously won a match at Wimbledon.
Vekic’s demise was more a physical than mental one, both her service and forehand speed dropping as the match wore on hampered by that forearm issue, which she needed to stretch between points and ice in the breaks between games.
It was an interesting contrast of styles from the outset – Vekic’s offence against the Paolini defence but it was alarmingly one-sided in the opening set.
Paolini was not helped by a first service percentage of just 47 in that opener, losing the set under the Vekic onslaught in just 35 minutes.
For Vekic, in her first grand slam semi-final, it was a remarkable turnaround in fortunes. She had pondered her future in the sport after the French Open but was coaxed into carrying on by her coaching team.
The Paolini serving percentage notably improved from the start of the second set and yet still she was at full stretch to stay in each point.
She just held serve to go 2-1 up, leading to roars from the crowd and threatening to turn the tide. Slowly, she cranked up the pressure on her opponent, who finally cracked when serving to stay in the set at 5-4.
Vekic took a long break off court after that set and immediately broke her opponent on her return but the advantage was shortlived in a set which both players broke twice.
It felt like one player only needed to hold serve to take the advantage, which Paolini finally did to go 5-4 up. She had a match point in the very next game only for Vekic to hold firm and extend the match further.
Paolini had another match point when 6-5 but again Vekic refused to concede leading to the tiebreak.
In a set where both players struggled to hold serve, each player conceded just a point each in the shoot-out until Paolini converted the match point on the Vekic serve.
