Jasmine Paolini led the lower-half of the draw’s charge into the quarter-finals at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome on Monday, alongside Diana Shnaider, Elina Svitolina and Peyton Stearns.
Going into matches like this, if you don’t hit the ball, you’re not going to win. I think, mentally, I was like, ‘You have to get every ball. If you miss, you miss, but you have to go for it’… No injuries. Just really pushed myself to the limit out there, so I was throwing up. I got to put the fluids back in the body. Feeling a little tired now, but I’ve got a lot of time to recover. Peyton Stearns
The first Italian into the Last 8 since Sara Errani made the 2014 final, 6th-seeded Paolini had to come from 2-4 down in the first set to defeat fiery Jelena Ostapenko, the No 17 seed from Latvia, 7-5 6-2.
It was Paolini’s first win over Ostapenko since 2014, and, with it, she levelled their head-to-head at two wins apiece.
The 29-year-old Italian has managed the expectations of her home crowd beautifully, and produced some terrific tennis in the big moments to keep all hopes alive.
Ostapenko held 2 break-points for a 5-2 lead in the first set, but Paolini came back to snatch it under enormous pressure, sending the Latvian into a downward tail-spin in the second, as the Italian scored her 3rd win this year against a former major champion.
Paolini is channeling the energy that has this city buzzing over the election of a new Pope, and the return of Jannik Sinner.
“The atmosphere was really, really, really great,” a smiling Paolini said after her match against Ostapenko. “We really enjoy being in this era of the Italian tennis.
“We are like a team. Everybody is pushing each other. It’s great to have also Lorenzo Musetti, Top 10. Matteo [Berrettini] is there. It’s great to have many matches of Italian players.”
Last year she reached the finals at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and this season she made it into the semi-finals in Miami before losing to World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka.
21-year old Diana Shnaider, the 13th seed, has yet to drop a set and efficiently dispatched Elise Mertens to reach the Last 8 in Rome
WTAtennis.com
To advance to the semi-finals here in Rome, Paolini must get past Diana Shnaider, the 21-year old Russian 13th seed, who has yet to drop a set and efficiently dispatched Elise Mertens, 6-2 6-3, on Monday.
Shnaider has dropped only 11 games in her 3 matches, and her defeat of the 25th-seeded Belgian was typical of her recent form, as she converted half of her 3 break-point chances, and saved all 5 against her.
After 18-year-old Mirra Andreeva, Shnaider is the youngest player in the PIF WTA Ranking’s Top 25, and has made a habit of taking out more decorated, more experienced players.
She is bold and risky, testified by her casually-flicked crosscourt drop-shot from outside the tramlines and way behind the baseline to bring up match point, a shot that even the fleet-footed Mertens had no chance of tracking down.
It landed for a clean winner, and Shnaider converted for the win, and a place in her second WTA 1000 quarterfinal.
“If you don’t risk, you don’t drink champagne,” Shnaider said with a broad grin later. “Elise changed her tactics a little bit in the last game. I couldn’t risk too much, and go as hard as I can. I tried to stay solid from the baseline, and tried to play deep.
“But I understood that either I’m going to do mistake, or she’s going to change down the line, and I’m not going to [get to] that shot. I felt that the wind was going a little bit into me, so it was a perfect shot for me to do right [at that moment], because it would be tougher for her to make a run to it. And I just made it on a feeling. It was great, it was crazy.
“When I go on court, I have a plan how to play each player,” she added. “But some shots, you just feel down-the-line is the right shot, and you just play it. You just smash it, because you’re feeling great.”
She is in Rome without a coach after just a month with Dinara Safina, and ending their partnership, a decision that left Shnaider shocked and upset.
Safina gave her the news that she no longer wished to travel a few hours after Shnaider’s 6-0 6-7(3) 6-4 loss to Iga Swiatek in the 4th round of Madrid in a match of such quality that, despite the defeat, the Russian was still on a high from it.
“I felt so good, happy and proud of myself,” she said. “The way I was competing, the way I was fighting. After that match, with the crazy emotions, and happy ending even with a loss, I felt shocked and I didn’t know what to say.”
Shnaider is in Rome with just her mother and brother, and looking for a coach once again.
She arrived with a 11-11 overall record, and was 4-3 in 3 tournaments on clay, while a win against Paolini would deliver her into a first semi-final since last autumn in Hong Kong.
Paolini, however, leads their head-to-head 1-0, having recorded a 6-3 6-4 win over the Russian in the 1st-round of last year’s Australian Open.
Unseeded Peyton Stearns continued her run in Rome with a tough win against Naomi Osaka, and will play Elina Svitolina next on Tuesday
© Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images
There was plenty of emotion as Peyton Stearns weathered both Naomi Osaka and an unexpected flyover to also reach the Rome quarters, pushing herself to the physical limit in the process.
As Osaka served, down a set but at 2-2 in the second against the 23-year old American, the Campo Centrale was briefly deafened by a formation of 8 aircraft overhead, trailing green, white and red plumes behind them.
The unexpected flyover by the Frecce Tricolori, Italy’s national air force display team, did not rattle Stearns, or disrupt a match that turned into a 2 hour, 41 minute battle of attrition.
The unseeded American went on to win, 6-4 3-6 7-6(4), ousting a second straight Grand Slam champion to make her second career WTA 1000 quarter-final.
Stearns, who had also upset Australian Open winner Madison Keys in a third-set tiebreak in the 3rd-round, ended Saint-Malo WTA 125 champion Osaka’s 8-match winning streak on the clay.
The No 42-ranked Stearns has been thriving on red stuff since partnering with her new coach, Blaz Kavcic, ahead of Madrid, where she reached the Last 16.
In a riveting final set, 4-time major champion Osaka was pushed onto the back foot as Stearns unloaded her heavy forehand, again and again.
Osaka rose to the challenge, though, making for a series of terrific exchanges, but, more often than not, Stearns landed the final blow.
Aces accounted for 10 of Osaka’s total of 26 winners, but, off the ground, Stearns held the edge, with 26 to 16.
“Going into matches like this, if you don’t hit the ball, you’re not going to win,” Stearns said. “I think, mentally, I was like, ‘You have to get every ball. If you miss, you miss, but you have to go for it’.”
Former World No 1 Naomi Osaka had her chances but ultimately fell to Peyton Stearns in the 3rd-set tiebreak at the Foro Italico in Rome on Monday
© Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images
From 3-3 in the second set, Osaka raised her level to reel off 5 straight games, the longest uninterrupted stretch of the match, to lead 2-0 in the third, but Stearns responded with a 4 game run of her own to reach 4-2, only for the former World No 1 to peg her back at 4-4.
Stearns had to save 5 break points, and came up with clean forehand winners on two of them.
In the ensuing tiebreak, battling cramps and a queasy stomach, Stearns overturned a 4-2 deficit, sealing her first match point as Osaka netted a backhand.
Showing guts and a fierce will to win, Stearns vomited into the court-side trash can on one of the hottest days of the tournament so far.
“No injuries. Just really pushed myself to the limit out there, so I was throwing up,” Stearns told the media afterwards. “I got to put the fluids back in the body. Feeling a little tired now, but I’ve got a lot of time to recover.”
Two-time Rome winner Elina Svitolina outpaced Danielle Collins to reach her first quarter-final at Foro Italico since 2021
© Piero Cruciatti/AFP via Getty Images
Not so much as, on Tuesday, Stearns will next face No 16 seed, and two-time Rome champion, Elina Svitolina from Ukraine, who came through over Danielle Collins, the 29th-seeded American, 6-4 6-2, in an hour and 27 minutes.
Svitolina, the 2017-18 Internazionali BNL d’Italia champion, returned to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2021.
A former World No 3, 30-year old Svitolina trailed 31-year old Collins, 1-2, in their head-to-head coming into the match, but the Ukrainian took control after edging a tight first set, and cruised through the second.
Svitolina and Stearns have never met prior to their Last 8 meeting on Tuesday evening to see who will make it into the semi-finals.
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