Pizzas can wait, says Paolini after reaching Dubai Duty Free Tennis final

Jasmine Paolini reached the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. – KT Photo by Sajjad

Jasmine Paolini said she will not be celebrating with a pizza after holding off a determined Sorana Cirstea to reach her first WTA 1000 final on Saturday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

In a battle with two unseeded players, the Italian saved six set points in a tense second set to win 6-2 7-6 in just under two hours.

“I’ not going to eat a pizza today I’m going to eat after the final I think,” Paolini joked during a post-match press conference

“I’m happy all the match to stay there and to close it in two sets because it was getting tough and tougher,”

Cirstea, 33, was hoping to become the second-oldest player to enter the Top 20 for the first time (following 35-year-old Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in 2017) and to reach a WTA 1000 final for the first time in 11 years.

Paolini, however, maintained her perfect record against the Romanian, improving to 3-0 overall, to book her spot in her fifth Hologic WTA Tour final.

She becomes the fifth Italian woman to reach a final at the WTA 1000 level or over, after Francesca Schiavone, Sara Errani, Flavia Pennetta and Camila Giorgi.

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