Tracy Austin highlighted what helped Jasmine Paolini defeat Donna Vekic in the Wimbledon semi-final.
The 28-year-old came through an epic three-set match to advance to her first final at SW19 and second successive major.
In the process she became the first woman since Serena Williams in 2016 to reach the French Open and Wimbledon finals in the same season.
She won the hearts of the fans on Centre Court who witnessed the longest semi-final in the grass court Grand Slam’s history.
Paolini is one match away from achieving her Wimbledon fairytale but she must go through Barbora Krejčíková who is searching for her second major.
Tracy Austin analyses how Jasmine Paolini beat Donna Vekic at Wimbledon
Paolini and Vekic’s Wimbledon semi-final was watched by two-time Grand Slam winner Tracy Austin. The former World number one witnessed Paolini complete a comeback to win 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(8) in two hours and 51 minutes.
The Italian found herself on the back foot early on as Vekic took full advantage of her opponent’s struggles on serve to storm through the first set. After Paolini turned the match in her favour, Austin explained how she was able to cause Vekic problems.
“What I liked about the last part of that second set is just the changes that Paolini made. Taking some pace off her groundstrokes and using some loops, some slices and the court positioning also changed on her return of serve,” the two-time US Open champion told BBC.
“For the first set she was about a metre and half behind the baseline for first serves. In the second set she backed up and sometimes was even four metres behind. So she was mixing it up so that Donna Vekic didn’t see the same return position every single first serve.”
Jasmine Paolini makes history as she reaches Wimbledon final
Paolini’s trademark smile was etched across her face after winning one of the all-time great Wimbledon matches.
Not only did the seventh seed come from a set behind but she was twice a break down in the decider, but she would not be denied.
A match point at 5-4 in the third set and another at 6-5 came and went, but Paolini saved them and later sealed the win after one of Vekic’s laser-like forehands sailed wide.
She became the first Italian woman in the open era to reach the Wimbledon final, which is all the more remarkable given she had not won a grass court match before 2024.
“I am so happy with this win. This match, I will remember forever,” Paolini said post-match. “I tried to play my best. Now I have to recover, an ice bath. I am a little bit tired, so happy to be in the final.”
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