Jan 16, 2025; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Jasmine Paolini of Italy acknowledges the audience during her match against Renata Zarazua of Mexico in the second round of the women's singles at the 2025 Australian Open at Melbourne Park.

tennis

WTA Italian Open 2025 Semifinal Results: Jasmine Paolini’s Home Run Continues, Coco Gauff Wins Roman Marathon

The final will take place on Saturday.

The 2025 Internazionali BNL d’Italia presented some thrilling encounters on Thursday. The four remaining players on the women’s side of the draw battled one another for a spot in Saturday’s showpiece event. With a new champion guaranteed at the Foro Italico, it was bound to be a race to the finish line. Here’s what unfolded in final four action at the Italian capital:

Jasmine Paolini (6) vs Peyton Stearns

In the first semifinal on Campo Centrale, No. 6 seed Jasmine Paolini took on the unseeded Peyton Stearns from USA. Stearns came into the match on the back of three consecutive deciding set tiebreak wins. She took the attack to the hometown hero, racing to a 4-0 lead in the opening set. But as all great champions do, Paolini fended off the powerful attack from her 23-year-old opponent to charge back into the contest.

The two-time Grand Slam finalist saved two set points before grabbing the opener. As the match went on, Paolini began finding her range. With the jam-packed Centre Court providing their unwavered support, the Italian emerged victorious in 1 hour and 39 minutes. In the process, the 29-year-old became just the third Italian woman to reach the final in Rome.

Jasmine Paolini will contest her eighth WTA final on Saturday, aiming to capture her third tour-level singles championship. She was the finalist at Roland Garros last year, and is set to go into the red dirt major with some positive momentum. Paolini now has a 21-8 record in 2025 – “This year is another year, it’s a completely different story,” she said after her win.

Result: Paolini def. Stearns 7-5 6-1.

Coco Gauff (4) vs Zheng Qinwen (8)

In a late night thriller on Thursday, 2023 US Open champion Coco Gauff came face-to-face with 2024 Australian Open runner-up Zheng Qinwen. The Chinese superstar has been in top form on clay over the past year – including a gold medal at the Paris Olympics. She also defeated World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinal stage, and was searching for a first win vs Gauff. However, the 21-year-old American was up for the fight.

Although there was little to separate the two stars throughout the match, it was an error-prone outing. There were numerous high intensity exchanges from the back of the court, sandwiched between uncanny mistakes from the young guns. In the end, Coco Gauff prevailed by edging out a final set tiebreaker, and improved to 3-0 in the duel against Qinwen.

The 3 hour 32 minute slugfest was not only the longest match of Gauff’s career, but also happened to be the longest on the WTA circuit in 2025. In the process, she became the first American to reach the summit clash at the Eternal City since 2016. “I knew before that it was going to be a physical match,” Gauff stated. “Last time we played was over three hours.”

Result: Gauff def. Qinwen 7-6(3) 4-6 7-6(4).

Gauff d. Zheng 7-6(3) 4-6 7-6(4)

Longest match of Coco’s career

3 hours 30 min

Down 3-5 in set 3, what a comeback

She’s now 3-0 against Qinwen

✅1st Rome final
✅Back to back WTA 1000 finals
✅Won 10 of last 11 matches
✅28th career top 10 win

🇺🇸❤️ pic.twitter.com/wn5eWqtuji
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) May 15, 2025

Coco Gauff and Jasmine Paolini will lock horns in the final of the 2025 Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Saturday. While the young American leads the head-to-head by 2-1, Paolini will look to make the most of her home court advantage.

Coco Gauff

Italian Open

Jasmime Paolini

Peyton Stearns

Rome Masters

Tennis

WTA

WTA 1000

Zheng Qinwen

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.