His perfect score now is “No Surrender” by Bruce Springsteen. He also beat Mertens in Indian Wells. For Jasmine Paolini’s new project, another project in recent months, it took nearly three hours. The champion from Bagni di Lucca, having stunned Azarenka at Flushing Meadows and winning the WTA Tournament in Portoroz, lost the Master 1000 in the second round of the qualifiers in Indian Wells, losing lucky and losing two exceptional wins as well if they differ from each other. The Japanese blue destroyed Hontama first without problems. So how …
His perfect score now is “No Surrender” by Bruce Springsteen. He also beat Mertens in Indian Wells. For Jasmine Paolini’s new project, another project in recent months, it took nearly three hours. The champion from Bagni di Lucca, having stunned Azarenka at Flushing Meadows and winning the WTA Tournament in Portoroz, lost the Master 1000 in the second round of the qualifiers in Indian Wells, losing lucky and losing two exceptional wins as well if they differ from each other.
The Japanese blue destroyed Hontama first without problems. Then, as mentioned, she showed determination, determination, but also technique, to win back Elise Mertens, number 24 in the world and a rising star. After losing the first set, the Italian champion (who will be 55th in the WTA rankings as of Monday, her best-ever ranking), hit back, took the second set and undermined the granitic certainties of the aggressive Belgian game in the first game. Perhaps the turning point was the eighth game of the third set, which was marked by seven breaks in the first seven matches. In practice, it looked the opposite: being on the racket was usually an advantage, and instead, losing the match between the two opponents who were regularly serving.
With a 4-3 score to her favour, Paolini recovered from 0-40 and finally established herself in the match she was serving in. The opponent came back down, at 4-5 and also eliminated the match point, but Paolini’s desire to win was decisive.
Today, around 20 Italy time, given the nine-hour time difference with California, she will face American Jessica Pegula, ranked 24th on the WTA and number 19 in the tournament. On paper, the difficulty is enormous. The athlete from the Middle Serchio Valley is underdog, and there’s no point in denying it. But the same also looked for the match against Mertens. Pegula is a player who prefers solid concrete, and she should credit her with being the quarter-finalist of the Australian Open in 2021, when she also reached the third round at Roland Garros and at the US Open. Ironically, guess who defeated the original Buffalo tennis player in Melbourne? Only Elise Mertens, with Pegula who squandered some match points. She has won the WTA Championships, while Paolini, who is two years her junior, is leading after losing two during her career. But that doesn’t matter. As well as the difference in the standings, as we saw against the Belgian. The gap can be bridged with the desire to share and never give up.
Champion Luca will likely feature in the Tour in the East to conclude a season considered positive from now on. Because the second round in Paris and New York (and against the former top seed Azarenka, if the second set had passed, the story might have been different), the victory in Portoroz, the final in Saint-Malo, the third turn, for the time being, for the Test, Indian Wells, very close to Grand Slam tournaments, she can only give the season the plus sign.
Massimo Stefanini
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