CN

Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini become first Italian women to win China Open doubles title

No. 5 seed Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini became the first-ever team from Italy to win the China Open women’s doubles title by defeating No. 7 seed Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 6-4.

This is the Italian duo’s second WTA-1000 title this season, having won on their native clay courts in Rome at the Italian Open. They also took home the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. It is also the first time in China Open history that teams from the same country have won both the men’s and women’s doubles titles in the same year, as Italians Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori won the ATP doubles championship on Wednesday.

Errani and Paolini excelled at the net throughout the entire match as quick hands and smashing overheads delivered them point after point. The two started strong in the first set, sweeping every point of the first game and handily breaking Kudermetova’s serve in the second. But Chan and Kudermetova hit right back, breaking Eranni’s serve before Chan held her own to even the set at 2-2. The players each held serve until the tenth game, where Eranni slammed down an overhead on the last point to break Kudermetova’s serve and win the first set in 44 minutes.

The second set was a bad time to be a server: Nine out of 10 games featured service breaks. The high stakes became clear for Chan and Kudermetova, as the latter smacked a ball into the wall in frustration after serving and losing every point the second game. Errani and Paolini then proceeded to win three straight games as Paolini held her serve and tied a bow on the final point by delivering an ace.

In the ninth game, Paolini had an opportunity to hold her serve for a second time to cement the Italian duo’s victory but fell short at 15. Down 30-0 in the tenth game, Eranni and Paolini won three straight points to bring the match to 30-40. But it was Kudermetova who finished the job, double faulting on match point to deliver Errani and Paolini their fifth overall WTA Tour title.

Commenting in her post-match press conference about all the broken serves, Paolini remained optimistic.

“We were returning better in the second set,” she said. “We knew maybe better where they’re going to go. I think we did a great job.”

Paolini is also a top-ranked singles player, currently ranked World No. 5. However, her singles run at the China Open ended when World No. 45 Magda Linette defeated her in the second round. Errani has focused on doubles since 2012 after she achieved the coveted World No. 1 ranking that year while playing alongside fellow Italian Roberta Vinci.

“We put so much effort this year to play doubles.” Paolini said. “It’s nice to win a tournament.“

 

Reporting by Jared Rubenstein