Home favourite, Jasmine Paolini, has emerged as Italian Open champion after putting up a sterling show to see off Coco Gauff in straight sets and end a 40-year wait for a home winner of the women’s singles at the event.
Paolini battled to a 6-4 6-2 win over her American opponent in the presence of Italian president Sergio Mattarella and backed by a partisan crowd at the Foro Italico in Rome on Saturday.
29-year-old Paolini, who was a surprise finalist at the French Open and Wimbledon last year, wrapped up victory on the clay court in one hour 29 minutes to become the first Italian woman to win the tournament since Raffaella Reggi in 1985 and only the fourth overall since its inception in 1930.
Neither player was able to hold serve in the opening three games of the first set, before Paolini’s nerves eventually settled as she took a 3-1 lead and did not look back on the way to wrapping up a 6-2 first set.
Paolini maintained that momentum to start the second set, blasting into a 3-0 lead with two early breaks, before Gauff claimed a break back and then managed to hold her serve. But the American was unable to wrestle momentum back her way as Paolini held her nerves through the remainder of the match.