Jasmine Paolini finds herself in elite company of Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic by reaching Wimbledon and French Open finals

Paolini beat Donna Vekic to reach the 2024 Wimbledon final.

Jasmine Paolini finds herself in elite company of Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic by reaching Wimbledon and French Open finals

Novak Djokovic, Jasmine Paolini and Serena Williams (via Imago)

Jasmine Paolini came from a set down to beat Croatia’s Donna Vekic in a thrilling semifinal at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. The Italian, who made her first career Grand Slam final at the Roland Garros earlier this year, now finds herself in the elite company of Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams after reaching the final at back-to-back Majors.

In a tightly contested match, Paolini began poorly and lost her first two serves, which Vekic made the most of to win the first set. The Italian fought back in the second set and forced a decider, where Vekic led 2-0 before she took control of the match and finished it in the tiebreak.

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Paolini eventually won 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(8) in two hours and 51 minutes, breaking the previous longest Wimbledon semifinal between Serena Williams and Elena Dementieva in 2009, a contest that lasted two hours and 49 minutes. The Italian is also in her first career Wimbledon final, having reached her first Grand Slam final at the French Open last month.

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With it, she became the fifth woman and the ninth player since the turn of the 21st century to reach the French Open and Wimbledon finals in the same year. The other players who achieved this feat are Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Steffi Graf, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Venue Williams, and Justine Henin.

The Italian will now await the winner of the other semifinal between Elena Rybakina and Barbora Krejcikova.

Jasmine Paolini excited about her semifinal victory against Donna Vekic

After her comeback victory against Donna Vekic, Jasmine Paolini stated that she had to fight hard for every point. She gave it her all after losing the first set to emerge victorious.

The Italian had never won a tour-level match on grass in her career before 2024. She now holds an 8-1 record during the grass swing this year, with her only loss coming against Daria Kasatkina in the semifinals of Eastbourne.

Jasmine Paolini (via Imago)

It was really tough. She played unbelievable. She was hitting winners everywhere. I was struggling at the beginning. I repeated to myself to fight every ball and try to improve a little bit on the court because I was serving really bad. I’m so happy with this win. This match I will remember forever.

Jasmine Paolini said during her on-court interview

Whether she goes on to win Wimbledon or not, Paolini, currently ranked a career-high World No. 7, is guaranteed to make her Top 5 debut in the WTA rankings.

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