The Errani-Paolini duo returns to winning ways
After so many disappointments, Jasmine Paolini has finally found some sweet satisfaction, winning the doubles tournament in Tokyo alongside her loyal partner, Sara Errani. The two Italian players reached the final of the WTA 500 tournament by defeating Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani—two of the world’s top doubles players—in two sets.
Errani and Paolini, who will compete in the WTA Finals, got their revenge after suffering a loss to the same pair a month ago in Beijing. They hadn’t won a tournament together in over a year: in the final, they prevailed with a decisive score of 6-2, 6-2 in one hour of play.
It was a clear victory for our players, who, after securing a break in the third game, quickly closed out the first set. The second set followed a similar pattern: the early break set the tone for the set, and the rest was thanks to both players’ excellent holding power on serve.
The victory in Tokyo holds special significance in what has been a challenging season for Paolini, hampered by a chronic foot injury that surfaced during the Italian Open. That injury has affected both her singles and doubles results and caused her to slip out of the Top 10, leading her to withdraw from the tournaments in Washington and Toronto to give her foot some extra rest. Before Tokyo, the only final she had reached in 2026 was the doubles final at the WTA 1000 in Miami with Errani, where the two Olympic champions were chasing their tenth title as a pair but ultimately failed to win the championship.
