Italian Open Champion Jasmine Paolini Doesn’t Consider Herself ‘Favorite’ at Roland Garros

Jasmine Paolini defeated Coco Gauff to become an Italian Open champion for the first time in her career.

Italian Open Champion Jasmine Paolini Doesn’t Consider Herself ‘Favorite’ at Roland Garros

Jasmine Paolini (Image via X/Bastien Fachan)

Jasmine Paolini is now the newest Italian Open champion! On Saturday (May 17), she outclassed Coco Gauff to become the first Italian woman to win the home tournament in the Open Era.

Paolini is also the first woman to capture both the singles and doubles titles in the WTA 1000 event in Rome after Vera Zvonareva in 2009. On May 18, Paolini, along with compatriot Sara Errani beat Elise Mertens and Veronika Kudermetova in the doubles final.

Paolini’s next goal is the Roland Garros, where last year, she progressed to the final (her first Grand Slam singles final). She failed to overcome Iga Swiatek who emerged victorious in the clay-court Major for the fourth time in her career.

The 29-year-old also reached the French Open doubles final with Errani last year but was unsuccessful in beating the pair of Gauff and Katerina Siniakova. Despite her decent performance on clay, Paolini doesn’t think she will enter the second Major of the season as the favorite to win. She told reporters:

Having played today one of the best matches of my life is incredible. I stepped onto the court with a very clear idea of what I had to do, and everything turned out perfectly. However, I do not consider myself a favorite for the title at Roland Garros. I want to take it one match at a time, not think beyond.

Paolini also was the finalist at Wimbledon last year, losing the match to Barbora Krejcikova. The Italian Open was Paolini’s third title of her career and her second WTA 1000 trophy after the 2024 Dubai Open.

Paolini also tied her head-to-head record over Gauff to 2-2, as before this match, the former had registered her first win over the American in this year’s Stuttgart Open quarterfinals. The match against the 2023 Italian Open champion was her second singles final as well as the second clay-court final of the season.

Before setting up the Rome Open final clash with the Italian ace, Gauff lost the Madrid Open final to World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka. Gauff has so far won just one title on the red dirt: the 2021 Emilia Romagna Open.

Rennae Stubbs makes a prediction about French Open after Coco Gauff and Jasmine Paolini’s Italian Open final

The Italian Open was Jasmine Paolini‘s first title on clay. With this win, she will be back to her career-high ranking of No.4 when the rankings are updated on Monday. Coco Gauff too will be back to her No.2 spot.

Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini (2)
Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini (Image via X, The Tennis Letter)

Though Paolini doesn’t think she will be one of the favorites in Paris, Gauff, though disappointed, is optimistic about her chances, given that she has now become a two-time WTA 1000 finalist on the red dirt. The French Open will kick start on May 25 and Rennae Stubbs anticipates an exciting tournament. She wrote on X:

@JasminePaolini huge congratulations on winning another WTA 1000 and doing this one in your home country! Wowza! What a week and what a smile. No one more deserving. Another incredible week for @CocoGauff as well. French open is going to be REALLY interesting this year!!!

Check out her post here:

Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek won’t be the heavy favorite to win the clay-court Major this season, given that she is suffering from a slump in form and has not yet lifted a title since winning last year’s French Open.

She was the defending champion in Madrid and Rome; and was defeated by Gauff and Danielle Collins, respectively. Because of Paolini’s result in her home tournament, the former World No.1 dropped to the fifth position on the rankings table.

Also read: “It Wasn’t My Best Level at All,” Coco Gauff Gets Brutally Honest After Edging Past Qinwen Zheng in the Semi-Finals in Rome