Tennis-Gritty Paolini helps Italy beat China to reach BJ King Cup semis

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(Reuters) – Defending champions Italy booked their place in the Billie Jean King Cup semi-finals by defeating hosts China 2-0 after world number eight Jasmine Paolini battled past Wang Xinyu 4-6 7-6(4) 6-4 in Shenzhen on Tuesday.

Earlier, Elisabetta Cocciaretto produced a gritty comeback to edge out Yuan Yue 4-6 7-5 7-5, rallying from a set and 2-5 down and 0-4 behind in the decider to give Italy the opening point. Both matches lasted nearly three hours.

After seeing Yuan’s final shot sail beyond the baseline, the 24-year-old Cocciaretto threw herself to the floor with her hands on her face in disbelief,

“Thanks to my captain, my team, my coach, I came back and fought until the last point. For sure it’s an incredible feeling. We put in extra energy when we play for our flag,” Cocciaretto said.

Paolini had looked on the brink of defeat when trailing 3-5 in the second set, but the Italian broke back and dominated the tiebreak, sealing it with a forehand winner before withstanding a third-set surge from Wang.

Wang, ranked 34th, looked on course to finish the job when she moved 5-3 ahead in the second but world number eight Paolini fought back to level.

The Italian surged 2-0 ahead in the decider before Wang responded with back-to-back breaks but Paolini broke back and won the next three games to close out the match.

Italy next play the winners of Wednesday’s quarter-final between five-times champions Spain and Ukraine.

“Xinyu is playing really good tennis and today was a bit tough for me, but I tried to stay there for everybody who was on the bench, for the Italian fans here, for my country and somehow I turned the match around,” Paolini said.

Paolini reached two Grand Slam finals in 2024 and won the Olympic doubles gold medal with Sara Errani as well as spearheading Italy’s Billie Jean King Cup triumph.

(Reporting by Shifa Jahan in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)