Billie Jean King Cup, Jasmine Paolini finds comeback to tie: Italy-Ukraine 1-1
At 6-3, 4-2 in favor of Elina Svitolina, all seemed lost: Jasmine Paolini, however, held on and managed first to recover the two games of disadvantage going on to win the set, then to win the decisive fraction thus giving Italy the point of the draw in the semifinals of Billie Jean King Cup 2025 against Ukraine.
After Elisabetta Cocciaretto’s defeat against Marta Kostyuk, Paolini could not afford any missteps on the concrete in Shenzhen (China), on pain of being eliminated from the “Women”Davis; of which the Azzurre are holders. For the current world No. 8, however, the match started badly, with Svitolina able to take a break lead in the third game and close the score at 6-3.
The second set seemed to start under good auspices for the Blue, immediately ahead by a break, but Svitolina’s reaction was vehement: the 4-1 partial break in favor of the Ukrainian seemed the beginning of the end for the champion from Bagni di Lucca, who from there on won four consecutive games, taking the match to the third and final game.
The third set was hard-fought and balanced until 4-4: in the last two games Paolini brought all her talent to bear, first snatching the 5-4 game on her opponent’s serve and then reacting to two cancelled match points to go on to close on 6-4, thus giving Italy the point of the tie. It will therefore be the doubles that will decide who goes to the final.
