Jasmine Paolini beat Donna Vekic 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(8) after two hours and 51 minutes, to become the first Italian woman to reach the Wimbledon final.
The semi-final between Paolini and Vekic broke a 15-year-old Wimbledon record. Previously, the longest women's singles semi-final was between Serena Williams and Elena Dementieva in 2009, with Serena winning 6-7(4), 7-5, 8-6.
If Wimbledon had kept the old rule of no tie-break deciding set, the Paolini-Vekic match could have been even longer. The two players tied 6-6 in the third set and had to enter a super tie-break reaching 10. There, Vekic made consecutive errors at 8-8, accepting defeat 8-10.
Vekic dominated the match, creating 14 break points, twice as many as his opponent. The Croatian served and attacked powerfully, winning 83% of first-ball points and hitting 42 winners. However, Vekic committed 57 unforced errors, many of which came at crucial moments.
Paolini quickly lost the first set 2-6, but won the decisive return game in the second set to take the match to a third set. In the deciding set, the 2024 Roland Garros runner-up lost her first serve game and was down 1-3, but came back to win. Paolini is the fifth woman in history to reach the finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year, after Steffi Graf, Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Justin Henin.
Paolini had never won a match on grass before 2024. With her Wimbledon final, she is all but guaranteed to break into the world's top five for the first time, according to the rankings to be updated next week.
In the other semi-final, a surprise occurred when 2022 champion Elena Rybakina lost to Barbora Krecjkova 6-3, 3-6, 4-6. Rybakina started strong, leading 5-1 in the first set but lost the match after that. Former Roland Garros champion Krecjkova came back by holding all her service games in the next two sets, also winning two service games.
Good serve, powerful forehands and consistent backhands were key for Krecjkova to neutralize Rybakina's power. During the match, the Czech player also showed her fighting spirit many times by celebrating important points against a strong opponent.
Both Wimbledon women's singles finalists are 28 years old. Krecjkova will play Paolini on Centre Court, at 8:00 p.m. on July 13, Hanoi time.
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