Jasmine Paolini vs. Peyton Stearns
🖥️ Stream live on TennisChannel.com, not before 9 a.m. ET, here
Stearns, 23 years old and ranked 42nd, is having herself a week. Probably THE week of her young career. She has won three straight matches, over three much better-known opponents—Keys, Osaka, and Svitolina—in third-set tiebreakers. She’s the first woman in the Open era to do that, and it has taken her to her first WTA 1000 semifinal.
Not bad for someone who, when she was asked this week if she considered herself a clutch player, said, “Not really.” At this point, she might feel as if she can’t lose.
But now she’ll face a player who may feel the same way. Paolini trailed early against Jelena Ostapenko in the round of 16, and then trailed late against Diana Shnaider in the quarters. In that match, she was down a set and 1-4, and Shnaider had a point to make it 1-5. But with a little help from some rain, and a lot of help from the Italian crowd, Paolini brought herself back “point by point,” as she said.