Women’s tennis is in a unique place where there is space for both the familiar and the novel. There have been repeat Slam champions in the recent past, like Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka.
There have also been first-time winners like Marketa Vondrousova and surprise finalists such as Zheng Qinwen.
Wimbledon 2024 has stayed true to this, and on Thursday, Jasmine Paolini became the latest to join this assorted bunch, making her maiden final at SW19 with a thrilling 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(8) victory over Croatia’s Donna Vekic.
In fairness, the 28-year-old is no novice. She finished runner-up to Iga Swiatek at the French Open just a month ago and entered Wimbledon seeded seventh.
But she would have been nobody’s bet to make a second straight final, for she had never won a main draw match at Wimbledon, and the last woman to make the title-round in both Paris and London back to back was the legendary Serena Williams.
“It was really tough,” said a beaming Paolini after the Centre Court epic. “She was hitting winners everywhere and I was struggling. But I told myself to fight and there is no place better than here to fight for every ball. I will remember this forever.”
For a good part of the two-hour 54-minute contest, it seemed like she would end up remembering it for the wrong reasons. Paolini was clearly the craftier player, but Vekic’s superior weight of stroke was a huge advantage.
Vekic had five inches on Paolini, and it showed in how she could muscle the ball. A solitary break in the fifth game was enough for Vekic to take the first set, as she won 16 of 19 service points and blasted 12 winners to Paolini’s five.
In the second set, Paolini raised her game. She served better, scurried all over the court, made Vekic hit the extra ball and pulled the trigger herself when presented with the right opportunity. The Croat tried the drop shot to end many rallies, but to no avail. Paolini gave the ball a lot more air and hit with more spin to make Vekic’s flat strokes difficult to control.
The most striking example of this was in the 10th game of the second with Vekic serving at 4-5. Paolini hurried her 28-year-old opponent into making two forehand errors with her skiddy shot-making. A nervy Vekic then dumped a double fault before Paolini levelled matters with a slapped forehand winner.
The decider was an one-hour 25-minute slugfest that will eventually come to define this duel. In the first eight games, they traded breaks twice. Paolini hit at multiple angles and heights, giving Vekic newer problems. But the latter managed to hold on, battling fatigue by going for the point-shortening extreme angle and mostly finding it.
Vekic would save two match-points — the second with a terrific down the line forehand — and Paolini two break-points, and the match unsurprisingly slipped into the 10-point tie-breaker. They were neck-to-neck even here, fighting each other to 8-8, before two forehand errors from Vekic sealed Paolini’s spot in the summit clash.
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