Jasmine Paolini will bid to become the first Italian woman to win the Italian Open in 40 years when she faces Coco Gauff in Saturday’s Rome final.
The 29-year-old advanced to her first Italian Open by staging another comeback to defeat American Peyton Stearns 7-5 6-1 on Thursday.
The French Open and Wimbledon runner-up was 4-1 down in in the first set and saved set points before managing to turn the momentum around.
Paolini, the sixth seed, had also found herself a set and 4-0 down to Diana Shnaider in the quarter-final, but stormed back to the delight of the crowd.
She is the first Italian to reach the final since her doubles partner Sara Errani lost to Serena Williams in 2014.
Raffaella Reggi was the last home champion in 1985.
“I am very happy, I don’t know what to say! It’s a dream to be here, it’s a dream to play in Italy, it’s a dream to be able to play the final,” Paolini said.
“You (the crowd) gave me a boost because today it was a bit of an uphill start and I struggled at the beginning, thank goodness you were there.
“We won this match together. Point after point I managed to fight, to turn it around, even if at the beginning I did not have a good feeling. But I am happy with the way I managed to turn this match around.”
Paolini will face Gauff in the final, in a meeting of two former French Open finalists.
Gauff is also through to her first final in Rome after defeating Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng in an epic semi-final, with the American winning 7-6(3) 4-6 7-6(4) in a match that lasted over three and a half hours.
It’s Gauff’s second straight WTA 1000 final, following her defeat to World No 1 Arnya Sabalenka in the Madrid Open final.
There are two Italian men in the semi-finals of the men’s draw, with World No 1 Jannik Sinner set to face American Tommy Paul and Lorenzo Musetti taking on Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz.
