Paris, FRANCE – Jasmine Paolini (ITA) had the biggest smile at Roland-Garros, and maybe across all of Paris, after winning an all-Yonex match with Elena Rybakina (KAZ) to reach her first Grand Slam semi-final.
This has been the most exhilarating of breakthrough seasons for Paolini. Until this year, the Yonex ambassador had never gone beyond the second round at any of the four Grand Slams. Her first breakthrough was at this season’s Australian Open, where she made the fourth round of a major for the first time and now on the Roland-Garros clay she has gone even deeper into a Grand Slam. In the biggest match of her career, Paolini dealt with both the occasion and the power from Rybakina, a former Wimbledon champion, for a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win that took just over two hours.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” said Paolini, who is only the fourth Italian woman in the Open Era to reach the semi-finals of Roland-Garros, and who will play Mirra Andreeva for a place in the final. As an illustration of how Paolini has joined the elite of women’s tennis, she is now assured of breaking into the top 10 of the WTA singles rankings on Monday, making her the first Italian woman to have that elite status in eight years.
Dominant in the opening set, Paolini became emotional in the second set as Rybakina leveled the match. But Paolini, despite having never played a Grand Slam quarterfinal before, found a way to control her emotions and win the third set. "It was a really tough match - I think I was a little too emotional in the second set. But then I said to myself, 'OK, it's good, she's a great champion, so it can happen, you know? Just fight, try to keep it there, try to hit every ball.' And it worked - I'm here, I won.”
With head-to-toe Yonex ambassador Casper Ruud (NOR) already through to the last four of the men’s singles, Paolini’s run meant that two Team Yonex stars progressed into the semi-finals of the singles events.
De Groot moves closer to making even more history
Diede de Groot (NED) was on court for under an hour as she advanced into the semi-finals of the wheelchair women’s singles at Roland-Garros. The Team Yonex star, who is attempting to take a 14th consecutive Grand Slam title, won 6-0, 6-3 against Ziying Wang.
Oda reaches the semi-finals
Team Yonex star Tokito Oda (JPN) is potentially just two more matches from retaining his wheelchair men’s singles title. The 18-year-old, who won his first Grand Slam title at last year’s Roland-Garros, moved into the semi-finals by beating Tom Egberink 6-1, 6-4.
Jasmine Paolini (ITA) | VCORE 100 [LINK] / POLYTOUR PRO 120 [LINK]
Elena Rybakina (KAZ) | VCORE 100 [LINK] / POLYTOUR FIRE 125 [LINK] / ECLIPSION [LINK] / Paris Collection [LINK]
Casper Ruud (NOR) | EZONE 100 [LINK] / POLYTOUR SPIN [LINK] / POLYTOUR PRO 130 [LINK] / ECLIPSION [LINK] / Paris Collection [LINK]
Diede de Groot (NED) | VCORE 98 [LINK] / REXIS COMFORT 125 [LINK]
Tokito Oda (JPN) | EZONE 100L [LINK] / POLYTOUR SPIN [LINK] / POLYTOUR PRO 125 [LINK]
