Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images
On a moody Roman afternoon, with the roar of Stadio Centrale echoing across the Foro Italico, Jasmine Paolini did more than win a tennis match — she channeled the energy of gladiators before her and went to battle in front of her people. Trailing by a set and two breaks, the Italian No. 1 summoned every ounce of fight and finesse to flip the script on Diana Shnaider and punch her ticket to the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
Don’t let the numbers (6-7(1), 6-4, 6-2) fool you — this was war, albeit a strange one. A contest of survival, spectacle, and spirit, with Paolini and Shnaider trading blows in a two-hour, 28-minute rollercoaster that featured 15 breaks of serve. The match was pure chaos, a beautiful mess personifying clay-court season like Roman poetry written in red dirt.
From the jump, it looked like Paolini was ready to make light work of the Russian, claiming the first four games and putting Shnaider on her heels. Us real Paolini fans know Jasmine is susceptible to giving up breaks as fast as she gets them sometimes, and just as quickly as she went up 4-0, the twenty-one year old Shnaider came charging back, and bullied her way to a dominant 7-1 tiebreak win to take the first set.
The second set was just as wild. Shnaider then sprinted to a 4-0 lead and was a whisper away from 5-1 when the Roman weather gods opened the skies, cooling the tempo but not the tension. Paolini came out after the rain delay undeterred and created a crack in the Shnaider armor during an 18-point marathon game. Suddenly, the momentum had shifted back and Paolini pounced, breaking twice more to snatch the set and alleviate any fears of a total collapse.
In the third set, the energy shifted even more to Paolini’s favor — on the court and in the crowd. A frustrated Shnaider mocked the crowd for their noise after being broken to 2-all. She wanted all the smoke and Rome obliged her: whistles, chants, you name it. The only thing missing was the ghost of Pavarotti commandeering the jumbotron and leading the crowd in a chorus of “Hit the Road Jack.” The Italian heroine responded, reeling off six straight games, as if Pope Leo XIV had bestowed a blessing on her Yonex VCORE himself.
At age 29, Paolini’s career, built on heart and hustle, continues to age like a Tuscan chianti, getting better and bolder over time. With the win, she becomes only the fifth Italian woman in the Open Era to reach the semifinals in Rome, and the first since her doubles partner Sara Errani did it over a decade ago. It’s her third WTA 1000 semifinal in the last 15 months, and with every gritty win, she’s rewriting what it means “to peak,” proving that it can happen to anyone at any time, and often when you least expect it.
On Thursday, when she steps on the court to face Peyton Stearns, Paolini won’t just be playing for herself. She’ll be carrying the weight of a city, the pride of her nation, and the quiet dreams of late bloomers everywhere. And Rome won’t just be watching. Rome will be riding. Forzaaaa.
