Jasmine Paolini beats Anna Kalinskaya to win second career title in Dubai

Jasmine Paolini pulled off a gritty come-from-behind victory on Saturday to capture the highest-level title of her career, defeating qualifier Anna Kalinskaya 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the WTA 1000 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships final.

The World No.26 from Italy, outlasted 40th-ranked Kalinskaya in 2 hours and 13 minutes, battling back from a break down in each of the second and third sets. With the win, Paolini claims her second career singles title on the Hologic WTA Tour, and her first at WTA 1000-level.

“I’m really happy how I managed to come back,” Paolini said in her champion’s press conference. “It’s unbelievable. I don’t know. I’m just so happy.”

“It’s special to have this trophy in my hands,” Paolini said. “Was such a great tournament. Every player was here. Yeah, was really, really tough draw. I’m just happy.”

Paolini took home her first career singles title at WTA 250 Portoroz in 2021, defeating Kalinskaya on the way to that trophy. Since that triumph, though, Paolini had been in three finals and lost them all.

Paolini had lost to Kalinskaya earlier this year in a high-stakes match at the Australian Open. In the first Grand Slam Round of 16 for both of them, Kalinskaya prevailed in straight sets to make a breakthrough major quarterfinal.

Paolini is the third Italian to win a WTA 1000 title, following in the footsteps of Flavia Pennetta at 2014 Indian Wells and Camila Giorgi at 2021 Montreal.