Who Is Jasmine Paolini? Inside the Meteoric Rise of Italy’s New Tennis Sensation

Italian tennis star Jasmine Paolini continued her late-season surge in Beijing, dismissing former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 6-4, 6-3 to reach the China Open last 16 and tighten her grip on a potential debut spot at the WTA Finals. The 29-year-old, who cracked the world’s Top 20 after lifting titles in Palermo and Monastir earlier this year, broke Kenin four times and won 78 % of her first-serve points in a tidy 86-minute display. The victory pushes Paolini to No. 7 in the live “Race to Riyadh,” placing her just ahead of Maria Sakkari for the eighth and final berth at the season-ending championships. Paolini’s hard-court form has been building for weeks. Earlier in September she clinched Italy’s decisive singles rubber in Seville, overpowering world No. 5 Jessica Pegula to seal her country’s back-to-back Billie Jean King Cup crown. That triumph, combined with quarter-final runs in Osaka and Guadalajara, has boosted her confidence—and her ranking—to career highs. Next up in Beijing, the Italian meets Marie Bouzkova with a quarter-final place on the line. A win would not only guarantee more ranking points toward Riyadh but also mark Paolini’s best performance at a WTA 1000 event outside clay, underscoring her rapid improvement on faster surfaces. Paolini’s emergence adds depth to an already historic year for Italian tennis. With Jannik Sinner qualifying for the ATP Finals on the men’s side and Paolini now one victory away from solidifying her place among the WTA elite, Italy could send representatives to both year-end championships for the first time since 2015. Fans can follow Paolini’s match against Bouzkova on Tuesday afternoon local time; live streams and real-time scores are available via WTA TV and tournament digital platforms. A deep run in Beijing would all but lock up her spot in Riyadh—and confirm that Jasmine Paolini is no longer an under-the-radar threat but a bona fide force on the WTA Tour.