Italy has just reached the semifinal at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals after Jasmine Paolini and Elisabetta Cocciaretto pulled off quite a comeback to help their nation beat China, which is the host nation of the event.
Playing against Yuan Yue, Cocciaretto was 4-6 2-5 down but stunningly came back to force a decider after winning the next five games. Even after losing the second set, Yuan had a great chance to win the match after opening a 4-0 third-set lead. But once again, the Chinese failed to close out the match as the Italian stormed back to win 4-6 7-5 7-5.
After Cocciaretto sealed "a crazy" win over Yue, world No. 8 Paolini came out to the court to face Wang Xinyu. Although Wang entered as the underdog, she came inches away from sealing a two-set after opening a 6-4 5-3 lead. But just as it happened in the first rubber, the local player failed to get over the finish line as Paolini mounted a stunning 4-6 7-6 (4) 6-4 comeback.
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Wang, who was born in Shenzhen and played in front of her home fans today, didn't hide her excitement about facing 2024 French Open and Wimbledon runner-up Paolini in her hometown.
"I played her before. It's been two tough matches. She's been really good [for] three years, making two finals of [Grand] Slams. Playing her here I think is something really different. For me it's the first time playing Billie Jean King Cup Finals, and also I'm playing at home. It's more tough for us, obviously, they have great players, they are doing great but also for us it's the home court and we've got no expectations, so we're just going to go for it," Wang said before facing Paolini.
