Jun8, 2024; Paris, France; Iga Swiatek of Poland and Jasmine Paolini of Italy at the net after the womens final on day 14 of Roland Garros at Stade Roland Garros.

tennis

Ruthless Jasmine Paolini Finally Overhauls Iga Swiatek to Reach WTA Wuhan Open 2025 Semifinals

Italian gets 1st win in seven attempts vs Swiatek; faces Gauff in SFs.

Jun8, 2024; Paris, France; Iga Swiatek of Poland and Jasmine Paolini of Italy at the net after the womens final on day 14 of Roland Garros at Stade Roland Garros.

World No. 5 Jasmine Paolini ended her losing streak against six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek with a flawless display at the 2025 Wuhan Open. The Italian front-runner brushed aside the horrors of the past, and completed a dominant 6-1 6-2 victory in just 65 minutes. She will now face reigning Roland Garros winner Coco Gauff in Saturday’s semifinal.

Jasmine Paolini Plays Near-Perfect Match to Beat Iga Swiatek in Wuhan

Across six previous encounters against her Polish counterpart, Paolini had only won a solitary set. Yet, she began the match with the ruthlessness that was lacking in the past. While the 29-year-old used Swiatek’s pace to brilliantly change direction and force the Pole to run around, it seemed like the Wimbledon champion couldn’t outhit Paolini. Swiatek’s groundstrokes lacked the usual pace and depth that we are used to seeing from her. On a day when the seventh seed struck 15 winners and just 3 unforced errors, only an unthinkable performance could beat Paolini.

Wow.

Jasmine Paolini defeats Iga Swiatek for the first time and does it in 65 minutes.

Huge match for both world #1 and WTA Finals Race.

1. Sabalenka 10.000
2. Swiatek 8.368

8. Paolini 4.131
9. Rybakina 3.913 pic.twitter.com/za1A5vTQi4
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) October 10, 2025

The Italian raced to a 4-0 lead within no time, and managed to convert 6/6 break points throughout the course of the encounter. Within 26 minutes, the first set was done and dusted. In the second set, Swiatek broke back after going down 0-2. But when the 2024 Roland Garros and Wimbledon runner-up broke again to take an insurmountable 3-1 advantage, the result was a mere formality. As the 24-year-old sent a forehand long beyond the baseline, Paolini erupted into a joyous roar on Center Court.

‘Finally I Won a Match’ – Paolini

The victory massively boosts Paolini’s chances of securing a spot in the WTA Finals at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. One of her primary competitors – Elena Rybakina – fell to World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinal stage. This happens to be the Italian’s 41st tour-level main draw win in 2025 – one more than what she achieved in her breakout campaign last year. She also has 26 triumphs at the WTA-1000 level in the ongoing campaign (Swiatek has 28, Sabalenka has 26).

3 – Jasmine Paolini is just the second player to concede three or fewer games en route to victory over Iga Swiatek in a WTA-1000 match, along with her next opponent, Coco Gauff (Madrid 2025). Zone.#WuhanOpen | @wuhanopentennis @WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/FzAwqkKPSn
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) October 10, 2025

“Finally I won a match [against Iga Swiatek],” Paolini hilariously remarked in her on-court interview. The 29-year-old is gunning for her third WTA-1000 title this week, and first in Wuhan. Her next opponent is Coco Gauff, against whom she has a superior 3-2 head-to-head record. “I’m just super happy about my level. It just feels amazing,” she concluded after her grand success.

Can Jasmine Paolini go all the way to capture her fourth career singles championship? Only time will tell.

(Image Credits: Susan Mullane, Imagn Images)

Coco Gauff

Iga Swiatek

Jasmine Paolini

Tennis

WTA

WTA 1000

WTA Wuhan Open 2025

Wuhan Open 2025

Sankalp Harikrishnan

A passionate sports fan through and through, I am currently pursuing my MA in Global Sports Journalism. I specialise in tennis and football writing at The Playoffs News, and I have prior experience working at EssentiallySports and Sportskeeda. Born and raised in Bengaluru, India, sport was my safe space right from my childhood. After trying my hand at multiple sports and representing my educational institutions in cricket, badminton and table tennis, I found sports media to be my calling.