Jasmine Paolini overcomes Kalinskaya to clinch Dubai Tennis Championships, wins second career title

DUBAI: Jasmine Paolini scripted a spirited comeback to capture the highest-level title of her career, overpowering qualifier Anna Kalinskaya 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the Dubai Tennis Championships final. "I'm really happy how I managed to come back. It's unbelievable. I don't know. I'm just so happy," Paolini said in her champion's press conference as quoted by WTA.

With this title, Paolini became the third Italian to win a WTA 1000 title, after Flavia Pennetta at 2014 Indian Wells and Camila Giorgi at 2021 Montreal. "It's special to have this trophy in my hands. Was such a great tournament. Every player was here. Yeah, was a tough draw. I'm just happy," Paolini said. After coming back from a breakdown in the second and third sets, Paolini, the World No. 26 from Italy, defeated 40th-ranked Kalinskaya in 2 hours and 13 minutes. With the victory, Paolini wins her maiden WTA 1000-level singles championship and her second career title on the WTA Tour.

With a passing winner, Kalinskaya broke for a 5-4 lead, turning the first set in her favour. The qualifier easily completed the first set lead and then broke Paolini in the first game of the second set, winning 6-4, 3-1. To break back for a 3-3 lead, Paolini, however, began to wear Kalinskaya down with her powerful forehands and lightning-fast footwork.

Paolini maintained control and was rewarded with a break in the final game of the second set, pushing an error on set point with a crosscourt backhand. "I'm proud of all the work I made this year. It's not easy to bring this work into the match sometimes. Yeah, I'm playing good tennis. I played well at the end of the last season. I started well the season with the second week in the Australian Open," she added.

"Now I try to be more relaxed on court, to try to think more about what I have to do, to be more present at every point. I think it works. It's not going to be every week like this, of course, but I'm trying to do my best," Paolini stated.

In the third set, Kalinskaya's serve gave her an early advantage that she held for 4-2 with an ace. When Kalinskaya served for the championship at 5-4, she was almost there, but Paolini was too strong for her to handle, and the Italian tied the match at 5-5. After a double fault by Kalinskaya, Paolini took full control and reached triple championship point at 6-5. Paolini completed the comeback victory by drawing a long mistake from Kalinskaya on her maiden championship point.

Paolini won 60 per cent of the points in the match with her first serve, compared to 53 per cent for Kalinskaya. Paolini's effectiveness was marginally higher. The top-ranked Italian player was also marginally superior when it came to returning first serves, winning 46 per cent of those.