Jasmine Paolini vs. Peyton Stearns: Where to watch their Rome semifinal, preview and prediction

Jasmine Paolini vs. Peyton Stearns

🖥️ Stream live on TennisChannel.com, not before 9 a.m. ET, here

Stearns, 23 years old and ranked 42nd, is having herself a week. Probably THE week of her young career. She has won three straight matches, over three much better-known opponents—Keys, Osaka, and Svitolina—in third-set tiebreakers. She’s the first woman in the Open era to do that, and it has taken her to her first WTA 1000 semifinal.

Not bad for someone who, when she was asked this week if she considered herself a clutch player, said, “Not really.” At this point, she might feel as if she can’t lose.

Read More: Peyton Stearns is the first player in the Open Era to win three consecutive WTA matches in third-set tiebreakers

But now she’ll face a player who may feel the same way. Paolini trailed early against Jelena Ostapenko in the round of 16, and then trailed late against Diana Shnaider in the quarters. In that match, she was down a set and 1-4, and Shnaider had a point to make it 1-5. But with a little help from some rain, and a lot of help from the Italian crowd, Paolini brought herself back “point by point,” as she said.

So it’s safe to say that neither of these women will give up right away if they fall behind. They’ve never met, but their games would seem to be a match for each other’s. While neither is tall, they make up for it with strong, whipping, topspin forehands that they love to run around and smack. Between the two of them, there will be plenty of feisty athleticism on display.

But only one of them, Paolini, will have the crowd behind her. The question may be how she handles the support. Italians haven’t tended to perform well under home pressure; there hasn’t been a homegrown champion in Rome since Rafaella Reggi in 1985, and Paolini herself was 2-5 there before this year. So far this week, though, she has needed every bit of love she could get, and she’s used it well. Winner: Paolini