Jasmine Paolini defeats Elena Rybakina at WTA Finals for milestone 40th win of the year

Jasmine Paolini made her career debut at the WTA Finals on Saturday and it was a winning one, as she battled past Elena Rybakina in her first round-robin match of the week, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

She’s the first Italian player to compete—and win a match—at the WTA Finals since Flavia Pennetta back in 2015.

It was a milestone win in a breakthrough season for Paolini, too—it was the Italian’s 40th win of the year.

And of her 40 wins this year, almost half of them—19—have come at the five biggest events of the year. She tallied up 18 wins at the four Grand Slams this year, reaching back-to-back finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon and the fourth round at the other two majors, the Australian Open and the US Open. And she just got her first career win at the WTA Finals today.

She also had 14 wins at WTA 1000 events this year, highlighted by winning the biggest title of her career in Dubai. That means 33 of her 40 wins this year have come at the WTA 1000 level or higher.

Paolini had battled to a three-set victory in the pair’s most recent meeting in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, and even though this one ended in straight sets, it was another close one, particularly in the 64-minute first set as it went right down to the wire—Rybakina was originally up a mini-break in the tie-break before Paolini stormed out to a 6-2 lead, but she ended up needing four set points to finally close it out.

Then, after six straight holds to start the second set, Paolini grabbed the only break of the set for 4-3 en route to victory.

“It’s amazing, I’m really happy with the win today,” the world No. 4 said afterwards. “All tough matches here, and Elena, she’s playing unbelievable. It’s good to see her back on tour.

“It’s always tough to play her, big serve, big forehand, everything is big—I mean, she’s hitting the ball so strong, so I’m happy how I managed to play this match. And it wasn’t easy, because it’s my first time here at the WTA Finals. I'm very happy with the win."

Rybakina was playing her first match in more than two months—her last outing was a first-round win at the US Open at the end of August, then she withdrew from the tournament prior to her second-round match due to an undisclosed injury.