Sorana Kirstya was close to another spectacular comeback in Dubai, but our athlete missed six set points against Jasmine Paolini and stopped in the semifinals of the “WTA 1000” tournament. The Italian won after almost two hours of play with a score of 6-2, 7-6(6).

>> Jasmine Paolini explained how she will try to defeat Sorana Kirstea in the WTA Dubai semi-finals

It will be known after the match between Sorana Kirstea and Jasmine Paolini

• Jasmin Paolini will fight for the Dubai trophy with the winner of Iga Svyatek (1 WTA) and Anna Kalinska (40 WTA).

• For participating in the semifinals in Dubai, Kirstya will receive a check for $158,944 and 390 points in the WTA singles ranking.

• Sorani needed a win against the Italian to move up to No. 15 in the WTA rankings, but she remains at No. 22 (the position she started in the United Arab Emirates). If Anna Kalinska triumphs in Dubai, the Romanian will drop to 23rd place.

• On the other hand, Jasmine Paolini has scored 2350 points and is ranked 16th in the real-time leaderboard. If she wins the competition, the Italian will rise to 14th place (the highest was 24).

• Jasmin leads 3-0 in head-to-head matches with Sorana. The Italian defeated the Romanian in Portorož-2021, Roland Garros-2023 and Dubai-2024.

Statistics of the match Soran Kirstea – Jasmine Paolini

Aces: 1-0

Double faults: 1-2

Points won on the first serve: 35/64 (55%) – 29/49 (59%)

Second serve points won: 13/32 (41%) – 10/20 (50%)

Winning shots: 20-27

Unforced errors: 33-28

Break points won: 3/6 (50%) – 5/13 (38%)

Total number of points received: 78-87

Duration of the match: 1 hour 57 minutes.

Sorana Cîrstea, the way from WTA Dubai

First round: 6-3, 7-6(2) vs. Sofia Kenin

II round: 6-1, 6-4 against Veronika Kudermetova

Best result: 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 against Donna Vekic

Quarters: 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-2 against Marketa Vondrousova

Semifinals: 2-6, (6)6-7 vs Jasmine Paolini.

Sorana Kirstea – Jasmine Paolini 2-6, (6)6-7, in the semi-finals of the WTA Dubai tournament

Paolini plays perfectly in these moments, makes few mistakes and does not give many chances to Sorana (0-1). Kirstya does not give up the fight, serves well in this game and equalizes the score (1-1). Another very good game from Jasmine, Sorana still has no break point (1-2).

Too many mistakes by the Romanian, Paolini breaks the score in the second set (1-3). Sorana quickly returns and takes a break. The Italian asked for a challenge at a very important moment, but the ball ended up on the bottom line (2-3). Another productive break by Paolini, who is only two games away from victory (2-4).

Sorana comes back after 15-40, wins four points in a row and recovers the break (3-4). A good serve from our player, who is coming back from a very delicate situation (4-4). Sorana misses a return at 30-30 and will have to serve to stay in the match (4-5).

The net intervenes and sends the ball through which the Romanian could have leveled at 5. Sorana was uninspired with a short forehand, Jasmin arrived in time and forced the Romanian to miss – match point for the Italian. Sorana survives a very tense exchange and closes the point with a long shot from the line. Two mistakes by the Italian in a row, the Romanian equalizes (5-5).

Sorana misses the first two break points, but Jasmin helps her, who sends for the lower line – an important break for the Romanian (6-5). Sorana saves four break points, but misses the first five set points, and the Italian moves the match to a tiebreak (6-6).

Tie-break full of twists and turns – Sorana misses another break point and Jasmin earns another set point. Sorana sends to the double track and misses qualifying for the final (8-6).

Set I

The game begins with Paolini’s work. Sorana presses for revenge and reaches 40-40, but misses two shots and the Italian scores first on the scoreboard (0-1). Kirstea won the first game on serve with a score of 0 (1-1). Despite the fact that she is not tall, Paolini serves well, effectively, and again gains the advantage (1-2). After a very long distance, Paolini catches the bottom line and makes a break (1-3). The Italian confirms her advantage and breaks away (1-4).

Kirsty manages to break the winning streak of the Italian (2-4). Jasmin is very aggressive (as she announced before the game), takes a step to the net and causes the Romanian to make an error (2-5). Paolini wins the first set after another return game in which she was more accurate than Kerstea (2-6).

Both players are on the field, the match will start in a few minutes.

The match between Kirstea and Paolini is the second of the day on Center Court in Dubai. In the first match, Nicole Melicar Martinez and Ellen Perez (3rd seeds) defeated Oleksandra Sasnovich / Laura Siegemund, 6-3, 6-2.

Who is Jasmine Paolini?

Ranked 26th at the start of the competition (her highest was 24th), Paolini beat three big names on the women’s circuit in Dubai: Beatrice Haddad Maia (11th favourite), Leila Fernandez (US Open 2021 finalist) and Maria Sakkari (favorite 8). .

The presence in the semifinals of the tournament in the United Arab Emirates is Jasmine’s best result in the “WTA 1000” competition. The last player to achieve this feat after 28 years was Camila Giorgi (Montreal, 2021).

Sorana Kirstea – Jasmine Paolini, 0-3 in straight matches:

The Italian won her only WTA title in Portorož, Slovenia in 2021 when she beat Sorana Kirstea in the quarters 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. Jasmine played in three more finals: Cluj-Napoca (2022), Palermo and Monastir (2023).

Sorana and Jasmine also met in the first round of Roland Garros-2023, and the Italian won: 7-5, 2-6, 6-2.

Paolini won her third victory over the Romanian in the semifinals of the Dubai 2024 tournament, 6-2, 7-6(6).

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships runs from February 18 to 24 on hard, is part of the “WTA 1000” category and has a total prize pool of $3,211,715. Simona Halep won the tournament in 2015 and 2020, and the reigning champion is Barbora Krejcikova.