MALAGA, Spain — Aryna Sabalenka ends the year as women’s world No 1, but anyone could make a convincing argument for Jasmine Paolini as WTA player of the year.
After two Grand Slam finals, a new career high of world No 4 and an Olympic gold medal in women’s doubles with compatriot Sara Errani, Paolini is a Billie Jean King Cup champion. She secured the title for Italy by winning the decisive rubber against Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova on Wednesday night, giving her country a 2-0 victory in the final.
It’s a remarkable season for a player who started the year ranked No 30, never going beyond the third round at a major. Paolini is an architect of Italy’s first Billie Jean King Cup success since 2013, around the time when the country had four women in Slam finals and the world’s top 10. One of those women was Errani, who more than played her part in Italy’s success here, winning two doubles rubbers with Paolini in the quarters and semis. Her underarm serve on match point against Iga Swiatek’s Poland Monday to clinch a place in the final will be etched into tennis folklore.
There was no doubles in the final because Paolini’s 6-2, 6-1 win over Sramkova gave the Italians an unassailable lead after Lucia Bronzetti beat Viktoria Hruncakova 6-2, 6-4 in the first tie.
World No 78 Bronzetti was not selected for Italy’s quarter final against Japan on Saturday and had never played a Billie Jean King Cup singles match before this week, but she came in for the semi final and final and won in straight sets on both occasions. These team competitions have a habit of turning previously unheralded players into heroes, and Bronzetti has been on that journey over these last few days. After beating Hruncakova — the world No 281 who has become a hero herself for Slovakia — Italian supporters packed into the Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena serenaded her with chants of “Lucia! Lucia!”
Italy went into the final as favorites, with Slovakia upsetting three Grand Slam nations to get there. The Italians knew that by winning they would be the champions of both the Billie Jean King Cup and the Davis Cup — at least for a few days — with tennis in Italy on a high after Jannik Sinner’s dominant season and Paolini’s incredible ascent.
Bronzetti set the Italian women on their way with her win against Hruncakova. The opening exchanges were edgy, with both players giving up breaks, but Bronzetti’s forehand started to do some damage while Hruncakova was spraying errors. She hit four unforced errors in the first set compared to just nine winners.
Hruncakova recovered well in the second set and started to dominate with her greater weight of shot, but after missing two points for 5-2 she didn’t win another game. The errors returned and the footwork slowed as Bronzetti reeled off the last 10 points of the match to claim the opening rubber.
It was over to Paolini to secure the tie and achieve the winning moment in singles that has eluded her in a Grand Slam final. Those defeats at Roland Garros and Wimbledon to Swiatek and Barbora Krejcikova must have been somewhere in her mind — although with Paolini’s inherently positive demeanor it would be impossible to tell.
She was clinical here.
After a tight opening, Paolini accelerated to the finish line and from 2-2 in the first set won five straight games to open up a 6-2, 2-0 lead. By the time she’d closed things out not long after she had won 10 out of the final 11 games. A remarkably clean performance after last year, when she lost the decisive rubber that gave Canada the title and consigned Italy to the runner-up podium.
As Sramkova missed one final return she let out an involuntary yelp of celebration, and moments later Paolini was dancing with her team-mates and hoisting an Italian flag.
A fitting end to a truly unforgettable year and a fitting reward for Italy, who will hope that their men’s players can match the feat later this week.
(Top photo: Jose Breton / Pics Action, NurPhoto via Getty Images)
