Week in Review: Rome belongs to Paolini, but she wasn’t the only standout
Coming into her home event in Rome, Jasmine Paolini View Profile had yet to reach a singles final this season. That changed in a big way.
Paolini closed out a milestone weekend at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, winning both the singles title and the doubles crown alongside compatriot Sara Errani View Profile .
"It's been two amazing weeks, incredible," Paolini said. "I don't know what to say. It's just perfect, you know?"
It was another memorable chapter for the long-running clay-court tournament, which marked its 82nd edition this year.
Let's look back at some of the highlights from the past two weeks:
Stats corner: Breaking down the Italian sweep
- Paolini became the first Italian woman to reach the Internazionali BNL d'Italia singles final since Errani herself in 2014.
- Paolini then became the first Italian woman to win the singles title since Raffaella Reggi in 1985 -- which, need we remind you, was 40 years ago.
- Since Reggi won the event when it was staged in Taranto, Paolini become the first Italian woman to win this singles title when it was held in the national capital of Rome during the Open Era (since 1968).
- Paolini is the first woman to win the singles and doubles titles in the same year at this event since Monica Seles in 1990.
- Paolini is also the first player to win the singles and doubles titles at the same WTA 1000 event since Vera Zvonareva in 2009.
- Italy's fabulous foursome of Francesca Schiavone, Flavia Pennetta, Roberta Vinci and Errani attained acclaim for their various milestones in the 2010s, but Paolini is now the first Italian woman to win multiple WTA 1000 singles titles since the tier was created in 2009. Her Rome title follows her 2024 WTA 1000 Dubai title.
- Errani and Paolini defended their 2024 doubles title, but this was actually Errani's third Rome doubles title. She also won the event in 2012 with another of her legendary partners, Vinci. Errani and Vinci polished off a Career Grand Slam in doubles in 2014.
- Only Virginia Wade (4) has won more women's doubles titles at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in tennis history than Sara Errani (3).
The list could go on and on ...
1 - Jasmine Paolini View Profile is the third player this Century to win her maiden clay court title in Rome after Jelena Dokic (2001) and Serena Williams (2002). Starting.#IBI25 | @InteBNLdItalia @WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/8odfytMSyF
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) May 17, 2025
Social Buzz
Italy’s weekend to remember featured Jasmine Paolini View Profile ’s breakthrough backed by support from ATP No. 1 and 2025 Rome finalist Jannik Sinner.
And Italian President Sergio Mattarella was in attendance for the singles final to see the Italian No. 1 take home the trophy:
«𝑈𝑛𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒» ✨
— FITP (@federtennis) May 17, 2025
Jasmine Paolini View Profile incontra il Presidente della Repubblica Sergio Mattarella dopo la vittoria degli #IBI25. pic.twitter.com/SzSzydYBSo
Honor Roll
It wasn’t just the Italian duo who stood out over the two weeks in Rome:
Coco Gauff View Profile : The Rome runner-up has had a strong clay-court swing and will return to her career-high of No. 2 on Monday. The 21-year-old American became the youngest player to make both WTA 1000 finals in Madrid and Rome in the same year.
Peyton Stearns View Profile : The American's first WTA 1000 semifinal will likely garner Stearns her first Grand Slam seeding at Roland Garros. And she made history -- with her wins over Madison Keys View Profile , Naomi Osaka View Profile and Elina Svitolina View Profile , Stearns became the first player in the Open Era to win three consecutive WTA main-draw matches via third-set tiebreaks.
Zheng Qinwen: Nobody beats Zheng Qinwen seven times in a row. In the quarterfinals, the reigning Olympic champion took down World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka View Profile for the first time in their head-to-head.
Elina Svitolina View Profile : Despite a narrow loss to Stearns, Svitolina can still look back on a tremendous clay-court swing thus far. She is 12-2 in clay-court WTA events in 2025: Rouen title, Madrid semifinals and Rome quarterfinals.
Mayar Sherif View Profile and Katie Boulter View Profile : This week's champions at WTA 125 events, Great Britain's Boulter won her first WTA 125 title in Paris, while Egypt's Sherif triumphed in Parma for her eighth WTA 125 crown.
Hot Shot
Naomi Osaka View Profile had a strong run to the Rome Round of 16, where she fired a fierce forehand in her dramatic showdown with Peyton Stearns View Profile :
Next Up
There is one more busy clay-court week before the year's second Grand Slam gets underway at Roland Garros.
Next week features the WTA 500 Internationaux de Strasbourg in France, where Jessica Pegula View Profile is the No. 1 seed, and Emma Raducanu View Profile and Elena Rybakina View Profile are some of the Grand Slam champions in action.
Strasbourg: Draws | Scores | Order of play | Everything you need to know
Also next week, Rabat, Morocco hosts the WTA 250 Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem. Colombia's Camila Osorio View Profile is the highest-seeded player in the draw, and 2023 champion Lucia Bronzetti View Profile is seeded No. 3.
Rabat: Draws | Scores | Order of play
And, of course, next week features Roland Garros qualifying as the road to the terre battue in Paris begins. Among the qualifying contestants: 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu View Profile , who is seeded 17th.
