Jasmine Paolini stops in the semifinals at the WTA 500 in Eastbourne. The Tuscan long dreams of entering the last act, but in the end she has to give in to the Russian Daria Kasatkina for 3-6 7-5 6-3. For her now the Canadian Leylah Fernandezwho is having a great moment on the lawns and who could be one of the wild cards at Wimbledon.
From the first exchanges it is clear that this is not a challenge of power in the strict sense, but of tactics, long exchanges and, in many cases, also entertaining tennis. Paolini starts slightly tense and suffers the break for this, only to then recover it immediately also because Kasatkina commits a double fault and a bad forehand error. From this moment the Italian almost always manages to have something more in the exchanges, often finding solutions that in the long run create problems for her opponent. The only moment in which the Russian manages to recover is when she recovers the break at 4-3, but from there the best version of Jasmine returns, the one that wins the partial 6-3.
In the second, with the two serving quite well and continuing to offer a really high level of play, the opportunities begin to run out. The first are Paolini, who goes to 15-40 in the third game, but has to watch her opponent find good solutions to cut the problem at the base. Then it is Kasatkina who can take advantage of a lapse by the Italian at 3-3: 0-40, then another chance, but Jasmine always manages to get out of trouble with great attention. The turning point, however, comes later: at 5-6, when the Tuscan goes down 0-30 and then has to face two set points: she cancels the first one well, the second he sees her put the backhand into the net: 7-5.
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The third set goes on in a very particular way. Paolini, in fact, managing to recover almost with anger from the partial loss, manages to get up to 2-0, but after these two excellent first games, of aggression, Kasatkina manages to find an excellent reaction in the fourth game, always leading from the return onwards, and going to 2-2. The Italian, in turn, finds two great winning returns to go to 0-40, but from there the Russian takes no less than 12 points in a row, taking advantage of the fact that on the other side there is a clear and sharp decline. Paolini, however, does not give up even when she has to cancel, with the last energies, three match points, two of which in a row, but in the end it is the former top ten that closes.
One of the important numbers is the one related to the second serve, with which Kasatkina is well below 50% in the first set and then rises to 70% in the remaining two, in terms of points won. For Paolini it remains a good performance, which launches her towards a Wimbledon in which she must be careful, due to the possible new clash with Bianca Andreescu, and the Canadian is one of those loose cannons that few would want in these parts, net of having reached the third round only once.
