Smiling speedster Jasmine Paolini has scaled a new summit as the toast of Rome

Over the past 12 months, Jasmine Paolini has been a joyful jolt of unexpected energy to the collective tennis system. She has been a Cinderella story on the clay at Roland Garros, and she provided an even more surprising sequel the next month at Wimbledon. She led Italy to the Billie Jean King Cup title for the first time in a decade, and teamed with Sara Errani to win doubles gold at the Paris Olympics. She lit up arenas with her ever-present smile and hard-charging, power-packed, all-court game.

What she hadn’t been was a singles champion. For all of her breakthroughs over the past year, Paolini hadn’t won a title since Dubai in February 2024. At 29, after more than a decade on tour, she had only won two tournaments in her career. Paolini, a 5-foot-2 late bloomer, seemed like she might be destined to be the lovable runner-up, an overachiever who couldn’t quite break through the WTA’s highest ceilings.

Until Saturday. That’s when Paolini went herself one better on a big stage—and her home stage—and became the first native winner of the Italian Open since 1985. She’s also the first woman to do it on the courts in Rome since 1950. Victory, it’s safe to say, suited her.

She danced, she blew kisses, she dashed around the court and high-fived her team, she took a big sip of champagne, and she thanked the country’s president for showing up. She smiled as the crowd sang along to “We Are the Champions.” She let out all of the jubilation that she had to keep bottled up after her defeats at Roland Garros and Wimbledon last year.

“It’s something special, to win here in Rome,” Paolini told Tennis Channel. “I was coming to watch this tournament with my father, and now my father was there [today], I don’t know if he was crying.”

“I’m really happy about the win in front of my home crowd, and in front of my family and my team, the president, so it’s amazing.”

Destiny seemed to be on Paolini’s side even before the match began. She had come into the final after playing a flawless second set in her semifinal, while her opponent, Coco Gauff, barely survived a three-and-a-half-hour war with Zheng Qinwen in which she committed 82 unforced errors. On Saturday, it didn’t take long for Paolini’s momentum to grow. In the opening game, with a sense of tingling anticipation already running through the audience, Gauff double faulted and was broken.

While Gauff would break back right away, her A-game never arrived; it’s hard to say if her B-game did, either. She made 55 unforced errors over two sets; even her normally reliable backhand was off.

On the other side of the court, Paolini was much cleaner, and after a couple of nervous early hiccups, she again soared with the crowd as the match progressed. She showed off her forehand versatility by changing directions with it and rifling it past one of the WTA’s fastest players. She showed her attacking instincts by knocking off fearless swing volleys. And she didn’t show any nerves down the stretch, despite the history looming over the day. She grabbed the moment and ran with it.

“At the beginning I was feeling I have to say great,” said Paolini, who hit 12 winners and made 20 errors. “I was trying [to be more aggressive] because I knew that with Coco I had to raise the level a little bit from the last matches, and it worked.”

“It was the best match I played here.”

She forced me to play that way. She played to win today and she deserved to win. Coco Gauff on Jasmine Paolini

Gauff leaves Rome in something of an ambiguous place. On the plus side, she has reached two straight clay 1000 finals. On the minus side, her level of play actually seemed to decline as she went farther in the draw; in her last two matches alone, she made 137 errors. Gauff acknowledged the need to play better, but also took heart from the fact that she made the final her without anything close to her best.

“I think I have a lot to improve, a lot that I can work on,” she said.

“I made the final with those errors. Made the final maybe not playing my best tennis. It just gives me confidence if I can find that good form heading into Roland Garros, I can do well there.”

She also acknowledged that the day belonged to Paolini.

“She forced me to play that way,” Gauff said. “She played to win today and she deserved to win.”

Early this year, Paolini looked like someone who would struggle to replicate her breakout 2024. At 29, her lack of height seemed like it might become more of a problem as time went on. Now the smiling speedster has scaled a new summit. As she ran and danced around Campo Centrale after the match, she appeared ready to take off into the sky.

“It’s pure joy to have this trophy in my hands here in Rome at home,” she said. “I’m enjoying the moment. It’s an amazing one.”