Errani, Paolini defeat Andreeva, Shnaider; return to Rome final
Jasmine Paolini's dream fortnight at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia continued on Friday as she became the first player to reach both the singles and doubles finals in 11 years.
Defending champions Paolini and Sara Errani, the No. 3 seeds, came from 4-2 down in the second set to defeat No. 3 seeds Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider 6-4, 6-4 in the first doubles semifinal. Appropriately enough, Paolini -- who booked her place in the singles title match by beating Peyton Stearns the previous day -- is the first player to make the Rome final in both disciplines since her partner Errani in 2014.
Rome: Draws | Scores | Order of play
There's another compatriot Paolini wil be seeking to emulate this weekend. Errani lost both of her finals in 2014 -- to Serena Williams in singles, and (alongside Roberta Vinci) to Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik via retirement in doubles. But back in 1985, Raffaella Reggi -- the only other Italian woman to make the singles final in the Open Era -- walked away with both trophies, defeating Vicki Nelson-Dunbar in singles then partnering with Sandra Cecchini to win the doubles.
Since Reggi, only one player has lifted both the singles and doubles trophies in Rome -- Monica Seles in 1990, who defeated Martina Navratilova in the singles final then partnered with Helen Kelesi to win the doubles.
Paolini is also bidding to become just the second player to win both the singles and doubles events in a WTA 1000 event since the format's inception in 2009. Previously, Vera Zvonareva defeated Ana Ivanovic in the 2009 Indian Wells final, then joined up with Victoria Azarenka to win the doubles.
Errani and Paolini have formed a high-quality rivalry with Andreeva and Shnaider over the past year. The teams first played each other in last summer's Paris Olympic Games final, with the Italian duo taking gold, and have since met at the Australian Open and in the Doha semifinals. Errani and Paolini now lead the head-to-head 3-1.
Paolini's groundstrokes were the star of the show in the first set. The 29-year-old repeatedly found injections of pace at the right moments to hit through her opponents, both through the middle and with crowd-pleasing down-the-line winners. The Italians did not drop serve in the opener, and a pair of magnificent Errani volleys helped seal the final game.
Errani and Paolini broke Andreeva in the first game of the second set, but were pegged back immediately as the Miami champions hit back. Superb play at net by Shnaider helped them get out to a 4-2 lead and threaten a match tiebreak.
But Errani and Paolini rose to the challenge and came through a series of lengthy, crowd-pleasing exchanges to claw back the final four games of the match, converting their first match point with a forehand hammer blow from Paolini.
The Italians will now face unseeded Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens in Sunday's doubles final. Kudermetova and Mertens needed just 1 hour and 10 minutes to defeat Aussies Storm Hunter and Ellen Perez 6-2, 6-2.
Kudermetova and Mertens were regular partners in 2022, including winning the WTA Finals. They have re-teamed over the past month and have made both WTA 1000 clay-court finals in Madrid and Rome. They were edged out in the Madrid final by Sorana Cirstea and Anna Kalinskaya.
