Coco Gauff should have beaten Jasmine Paolini, and that is meant to mean no offense to the Italian. The truth is that Gauff can move around the court as well as Paolini and can hit with more power, but she does something Paolini does not normally do. The American makes too many silly mistakes.
For far too long, the new WTA No. 2 has struggled with serve consistency. She produces too many double faults. Instead of hitting a bombastic first serve and, if needed, following that with an effective second serve, she tends to roll the second in. That is, if she even lands the second.
She also makes too many poor decisions about when to try to slice instead of aiming for the line with her wicked forehand. She is a very good player and a fantastic athlete, but her bad decisions might always hold her back a bit. Her issues are not physical but mental.
Jasmine Paolini defeats Coco Gauff to win the Italian Open
Paolini is a 5'4" whirlwind that hits precisely with enough power to keep her opponents off-balance but not enough to overpower them. She doesn't need to. She doesn't beat herself. She also tends to take advantage of the opportunities her foes give her. For instance, after dropping serve to see her lead shrink to 3-1 in the second set, she came back to break the inconsistent Gauff at love.
The crowd at the Italian Open was firmly behind their countrywoman. Rome wasn't going to support Gauff, and there was never any chance the crowd would be split. This is especially true as only once before in Rome had the Italians seen an Italian female win their home tournament, and that was in 1985 when Raffaella Reggi took the title.
The Italians might have a dream come true if Jannik Sinner wins on Sunday against Carlos Alcaraz on the men's side.
But Paolini won the match against Gauff 6-4 6-2. She deserved the victory, and with the title, she will climb back to WTA No. 4, the highest ranking ever for an Italian woman. Gauff will move up to No. 2 even with her loss in the final.