Jasmine Paolini became the first Italian woman to reach the Italian Open semi-finals since 2014 when she overcame Russian world number 11 Diana Shnaider 6-7(1) 6-4 6-2 on Tuesday.
In a surprising first-set turn of events, Paolini led 4-0 but then lost the subsequent five games before Shnaider forced a tiebreak, which the 21-year-old Russian dominated.
Facing a setback, world number five Paolini mounted a comeback of her own in the second set, winning six consecutive games after trailing 4-0.
Despite being down a break in the deciding set, French Open runner-up Paolini continued to display resilience with strong crowd support, becoming the first Italian woman to reach the last four of the WTA 1000 event since her doubles partner Sara Errani over a decade ago.
Paolini, who reached the final four in Rome for the first time in her career, will face Peyton Stearns for a place in the final after the American player defeated Elina Svitolina 6-2 4-6 7-6(4).
In the men’s draw, world number one Jannik Sinner defeated Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo 7-6(2) 6-3 to extend his winning streak to 24 matches, a run that began in October of the previous year.
The 23-year-old continued his streak of reaching the quarter-finals at every tournament he has played since the beginning of 2024.
Fellow Italian Lorenzo Musetti, seeded eighth, powered to a 7-5 6-4 victory against Daniil Medvedev, setting up a quarter-final clash with defending champion Alexander Zverev, after the German second seed beat Frenchman Arthur Fils 7-6(3) 6-1.
Earlier on Tuesday, four-times Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz recovered from a second-set lapse to defeat world number 24 Karen Khachanov 6-3 2-6 7-5 and reach the quarter-finals for the first time.
The third seed will next face Britain’s world number five Jack Draper, who rallied from a set down to beat Frenchman Corentin Moutet 1-6 6-4 6-3.
Former Australian Open and U.S. Open semi-finalist Khachanov started strongly, taking a 3-1 lead before Alcaraz responded swiftly to level the score at 3-3 and then won the next three games to close out the opening set.
Despite trailing 3-2 in the second set, Khachanov forced a decider — the first time the 28-year-old Russian had taken a set off Alcaraz in their four encounters.
The Spaniard saw his lead slip away again after being up 4-1 in the third set as Khachanov fought back to level at 4-4, threatening an upset.
However, the 22-year-old Alcaraz regained his composure just in time, breaking Khachanov in the 12th game to clinch victory in two hours and 29 minutes.
“It feels amazing to get the win at the end against a really big and really tough guy like Khachanov,” Alcaraz said.
“Physically I struggled a bit. Not any pain on any part of the body, but I was just tired. The match was really tough. I had to run a lot, so I’m just really proud of the way I fought for every ball.”
