Paolini beats Gauff to become first home player in 40 years to win the Italian Open

ROME — Jasmine Paolini got the party started at the Foro Italico. And now the stage is set for Jannik Sinner to cap it off.

Paolini took advantage of the crowd's support and beat Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-2 to become the first home player to win the Italian Open in 40 years on Saturday.

With the top-ranked Sinner to play Carlos Alcaraz in the men's final on Sunday, Italy could earn its first sweep of the Rome singles titles.

The last Italian woman to win the open was Raffaella Reggi in 1985 in Taranto. The last local man to raise the trophy was Adriano Panatta in 1976.

When Paolini hit a big serve down the T on her second championship point and Gauff couldn't get it back, she celebrated with a big smile and raised her arms as she spun around in joy.

''It doesn't seem real to me," Paolini said. "I came here as a kid to see this tournament but winning it and holding up this trophy wasn't even in my dreams.''

Before the trophy ceremony, the crowd chanted ''Ole, ole, ole, Jas-mine, Jas-mine,'' and Paolini responded by forming her hands into a heart shape.

''The crowd has been incredible,'' she said.

Paolini and partner Sara Errani are also in the women's doubles final and will play Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens for that trophy, too, on Sunday.

''It's been two incredible weeks and it's not finished yet,'' Paolini said.

Paolini's ranking rising

With the country's tennis boom in full force, Italy President Sergio Mattarella attended the women's final on Campo Centrale.

Numerous fans held aloft Italian flags and they constantly shouted ''Vai Jasmine'' (''Go Jasmine'').

The fifth-ranked Paolini was the runner-up at the French Open and Wimbledon and led Italy to the Billie Jean King Cup title last year. She and Errani also won gold in doubles at the Paris Olympics.

Paolini will move up to No. 4 in the rankings on Monday, which will improve her position in the draw for the French Open starting next weekend.

At age 29, Paolini is achieving much more than she did earlier in her career.

''I played her a long time ago in Adelaide,'' Gauff said, referring to a match that the American won in 2021. ''I remember her playing a little bit more of a passive game style. Now she's more aggressive.''

Indeed, despite her height of 5-foot-4 (1.63 meters), Paolini is able to produce powerful groundstrokes and she often outhit Gauff.

''Today was my best match of the week,'' she said, ''and I needed that to beat Gauff.''

Despite her success last year, Paolini recently made a coaching change and replaced Renzo Furlan with Marc Lopez. Errani is also almost always with her, too, and acts as an unofficial coach.

''She is capable of playing top-two, No. 1-in-the-world tennis,'' Gauff said.

Gauff errors costly

Gauff, the 2023 U.S. Open champion who was ranked No. 3, made a whopping 55 unforced errors to Paolini's 20 and hit seven double faults to Paolini's none.

''Maybe I could have served better and put more balls in the court,'' Gauff said. ''I definitely could and can. But she played to win today and she deserved to win. … With the double-faults, it's something I know I have to improve.''

It's the second time in two clay-court tournaments that Gauff has finished runner-up. She lost the Madrid Open final two weeks ago to Aryna Sabalenka.

Gauff was coming off the longest match of her career, a 3 1/2-hour victory over Zheng Qinwen in the semifinals that ended in the early Friday morning.

Paolini also beat Gauff at a clay-court event in Stuttgart, Germany, in April.

Monica Seles in 1990 was the last woman to sweep Rome's singles and doubles titles in the same year.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis