In the semifinals, Paolini will meet unseeded American Peyton Stearns, who defeated No 16 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (4).
Paolini is just the fifth Italian woman in the Open Era to advance to the semifinals of this tournament. Sara Errani last achieved that in 2014. The last Italian to win the title on the women’s side was Raffaella Reggi in 1985.
Paolini needed all the help she could get from the home crowd. She won 103 total points to Shnaider’s 102 in the tightly contested match.
“It was really tough match,” Paolini said afterwards. “I’m really happy that I get through. But it was a roller coaster.
“Point by point, point after point, I found a way – I fought until the end. The crowd, of course, helped me. So I’m really happy with the win.”
Paolini trailed the second set 4-0 before grabbing the momentum away from Shnaider. In the sixth game of the set, Shnaider saved four break points before Paolini broke her serve on her fifth try.
That was part of a six-game storm for the Italian, and after Shnaider opened the third set 2-0, Paolini again won six games in a row to end it.
While Paolini’s only WTA 1000 title came at Dubai in 2024, Stearns set a personal best just by getting to the semifinals this week. She only made one previous quarterfinal appearance at a WTA 1000 event, last year in Canada, where she fell to countrywoman Jessica Pegula.
Stearns, the 42nd-ranked player in the world, also made Open Era history by becoming the first WTA player to win three straight main-draw matches in third-set tiebreakers. Stearns won third-set tiebreakers to beat No 5 seed Madison Keys in the Round of 32 and Naomi Osaka of Japan in the round of 16.
Then, in a match that lasted till almost 1 am local time, Stearns recovered from a 3-0 hole in the third set, forced a tiebreaker and dropped behind 3-1 before pulling off six of the final seven points for a dramatic victory.
Stearns won despite committing eight double faults without an ace. She saved 10 of 17 break points she faced. (AFP)
