SHENZHEN, China: Jasmine Paolini pulled off double duty and fought back from the brink to keep Italy's title defence alive with victory over Ukraine in the Billie Jean King Cup semifinals in Shenzhen on Friday.
With Italy trailing 0-1 in the tie and Paolini down 3-6, 2-4 to Elina Svitolina in the second singles of the day, things were looking dicey for the defending champions.
But, just like she did against Wang Xinyu in the quarterfinals three days earlier, Paolini clawed her way back to complete a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Svitolina and take the semifinal tie into a deciding doubles clash.
After a gruelling two-hour 25-minute singles tug of war, there was little respite for Paolini, who stepped back on court to partner Sara Errani.
Paolini and Errani, the reigning Olympic gold medallists, downed Lyudmyla Kichenok and Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-3 to send Italy into the BJK Cup final for a third consecutive year.
Italy will face either the United States or Great Britain in Sunday's final.
"It was a tough day for Jasmine. She's doing an incredible job. It's not easy to play the doubles after a tough singles match, but she's so strong and I'm so happy to have her as a doubles partner," said Errani.
Paolini had lost to Svitolina in their two previous meetings this season, at the Australian Open and at Roland Garros.
A break of serve in game three was enough for Svitolina to scoop a competitive opening set in 37 minutes.
Paolini broke at the start of the second but Svitolina struck right back, and broke again for a 4-2 lead.
Paolini dug deep to take the next four games, levelling the match.
In a marathon 17-minute second game in the final, Paolini saved five break points and survived eight deuces to hold for 1-1. She then surged ahead to 3-1.
A stubborn Svitolina evened things up at 4-4 but Paolini responded with a break to love and converted her third match point to keep the semifinal tie in play.
"I'm so happy we're still alive. It's always tough against Elina. I'm really happy that we're still there, we're still fighting," said a breathless Paolini before rushing off court to prepare for doubles."
She ended up playing five sets across four hours to help seal the win for Italy.
Earlier in the day, Kostyuk scored the opening point for Ukraine with a commanding 6-2, 6-3 victory over Elisabetta Cocciaretto in just one hour and 25 minutes.
Cocciaretto had pulled off an incredible double comeback for Italy in their quarter-final victory over China on Tuesday, erasing 2-5 and 0-4 deficits in the second and third sets, but Kostyuk played a near-flawless match against the Italian.
Italy is the first nation to reach the BJK Cup final three years in a row since Czechia achieved that feat from 2014 to 2016. — AFP
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