Jasmine Paolini’s Italy reached their second successive Billie Jean King Cup closing with a 2-1 victory over Poland, who had been given a glimmer of hope by five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek.
World quantity 4 Paolini and her team-mate Sara Errani clinched the deciding doubles 7-5 7-5 towards Swiatek and Katarzyna Kawa after a rare second-set comeback in Malaga.
Twelve months in the past, four-time champions Italy had been crushed within the BJK Cup closing by Canada.
They’ll uncover their 2024 closing opponents on Tuesday, when Nice Britain tackle Slovakia within the second semi-final (11:00 GMT).
“It was powerful at the moment,” stated 28-year-old Paolini. “The depth was insane.
“It’s important to give all the things for Italy, for my crew. I discovered the vitality and I am actually completely satisfied.”
World quantity 78 Lucia Bronzetti was the primary to strike for Italy, defeating Poland’s Magda Linette – ranked 40 locations larger – in straight units.
Her 6-4 7-6 (7-3) victory laid the trail for Paolini, who was bidding to beat Swiatek for the primary time.
However whereas Paolini gained the opening set, her first in 4 conferences with the Polish world quantity two, Swiatek prevailed 3-6 6-4 6-4 to ship the tie to a decider.
Paolini and Errani, who gained Olympic doubles gold collectively in Paris this summer time, saved three set factors earlier than breaking the Poles’ serve after which clinching the opener.
After being damaged within the first sport of the second set, Swiatek and Kawa gained 5 consecutive video games for a 5-1 lead. A match tie-break seemed sure, however the Italians had different concepts.
They too reeled off 5 video games for the prospect to serve for the match, and with it, a spot within the closing.
They did so on the first alternative, cueing large celebrations from the crew in blue.
The 2024 BJK Cup champions shall be topped on Wednesday evening, with the ultimate getting below method at 16:00 GMT.