“It’s a dream,” Jasmine Paolini after becoming the first woman since Serena Williams to reach back-to-back Wimbledon and Roland Garros final

Paolini is set to face Barbora Krejcikova in Wimbledon final.

“It’s a dream,” Jasmine Paolini after becoming the first woman since Serena Williams to reach back-to-back Wimbledon and Roland Garros final

Jasmine Paolini and Serena Williams (via Imago)

Having reached her first Grand Slam final at the Roland Garros last month, Jasmine Paolini has now made it back-to-back Major finals by reaching the Wimbledon Championships final. In doing so, she became the first woman since Serena Williams in 2016 to reach the Wimbledon and French Open finals in the same year.

Paolini has been spectacular this year, winning her first Masters 1000 title at the Dubai Tennis Championships in February and finishing as the runner-up at Roland Garros. She won her first career match on grass at Eastbourne, where she reached the semifinals before losing to Daria Kasatkina. The Italian now has an 8-1 record in the grass swing following her 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8) win over Vekic on Thursday (July 11).

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The semifinal match between Vekiv and Paolini was overflowing with drama from the first serve. The latter struggled to make a good start and lost the first set before recovering to take the contest into a deciding set. Both players went toe-to-toe and took the match into a tiebreak, where Paolini came out on top to seal the win in two hours and 51 minutes.

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After the match, Paolini said that she was enjoying her tennis and that reaching the final at SW19 was a childhood dream of hers.

These last months have been crazy for me. I don’t know. I’m trying to just focus on what I have to do on court. Just enjoying what I’m doing. I love playing tennis. It’s amazing to be here playing on this stadium. It’s a dream. I watched the finals when I was a kid at Wimbledon. I’m enjoying and just living the present. But the last months have been crazy for me.

Jasmine Paolini said in her on-court interview

Besides Paolini, only four women have made the finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same season since 1999 — Steffi Graf (1999), Serena Williams (2002, 2015, 2016), Venus Williams (2002), Justine Henin (2006).

Jasmine Paolini will face Barbora Krejcikova in her maiden Wimbledon final

Jasmine Paolini will face Czech Republic and former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova in the Wimbledon final on Saturday. Krejcikova beats Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the other semifinal at SW19. It will be the first final at the grass Major for both Paolini and Krejcikova.

Jasmine Paolini
Jasmine Paolini (Image via Imago)

When asked about her thoughts after her win against Donna Vekic, Paolini said that she was looking forward to an ice bath to recover in time for the final.

I am so happy with this win. I hope you enjoyed it. I tried to play my best. Now I have to recover, an ice bath. I am a little bit tired, so happy to be in the final.

Jasmine Paolini said.

Krejcikova leads 1-0 against Paolini in the head-to-head. Their only meeting on the WTA Tour came at the 2018 Australian Open, where the Czech player won 6-2, 6-1.

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