Jasmine Paolini outlasted Donna Vekic to win the longest women's semi-final in Wimbledon history, reaching her second grand slam final in just over a month.
Paolini, who was runner-up to Iga Swiatek at the French Open in June, was pushed all the way and had to come through a third-set tie-break, eventually triumphing 2-6 6-4 7-6 (10-8) on Centre Court.
The seventh seed will now face either Elena Rybakina or Barbora Krejcikova in Saturday's final.
An opening game featuring four deuces and a squandered break point for Vekic set the tone as she started confidently, and Paolini was unable to force a single break point in the opening set while conceding six.
The stakes were huge for unseeded Vekic, who was competing in her first grand slam semi-final having exited in the first round of 20 majors, but she found breaks in the fifth and seventh games to go ahead.
A second set featuring a number of long rallies and back-and-forth games saw Paolini fight her way back into the contest, smashing a forehand winner on set point before roaring to the vocal crowd.
Vekic broke early in the decider as she threatened to overpower Paolini, but an eye-catching forehand helped the Italian stave off another break and she clinched one of her own in the eighth game, a Vekic double fault helping her on the way.
The Croatian saved match point at 5-4 and then missed a potentially match-changing break point at 5-5, breaking down in tears and appearing to struggle physically at the change of ends.
Paolini missed another match point at 6-5, Vekic firing a forehand winner down the line to cap a breathtaking rally before closing out the game to ensure a tie-break was required.
The Italian was not about to waste a third opportunity to clinch the win, though, with Vekic sending a forehand wide to finally bring the curtain down on a historic two-hour, 51-minute battle.
"I was trying to think about what to do point by point because it was really difficult, you know there is no place better than here to fight for every ball and every point," Paolini said in her post-match interview.
"I really enjoy playing in front of you guys. For a tennis player this is the best place to play a match like this and thank you for cheering for me!"
Data Debrief: Double delight for Paolini
Paolini fell short of French Open glory when she could not match clay-court specialist Swiatek at Roland Garros last month, but she has joined an exclusive list by making the finals of both major tournaments in the same year.
This century, the only other women to achieve that feat are Justine Henin (2006), Venus Williams (2002) and Serena Williams (2002, 2015 and 2016).
She is also the first Italian woman in the Open Era to reach the Wimbledon final, to make finals at any two slams, and to make finals on all three surfaces in a single WTA campaign.
USVI secures 2-1 win over hosts Trinidad & Tobago in Davis Cup Americas Group IV round robin
The US Virgin Islands secured a 2-1 win over hosts Trinidad & Tobago in Davis Cup Americas Group IV Round Robin play at the National Racquet Centre in Tacarigua on Tuesday.
The hosts got Tuesday’s tie off to a winning start with Kamran McIntosh-Ross securing a dominant 6-0, 7-5 win over Tomas Del Olmo in an hour and 21 minutes.
McIntosh-Ross had an excellent day on serve, winning 80% of his first serve points and saving all three break points faced.
The 20-year-old also was able to break Del Olmo’s serve four times.
Overall, the Trinidadian won 71 points compared to Del Olmo’s 47.
USVI levelled proceedings at 1-1 when Jan Neuburger-Higby beat Luca Shamsi 6-1, 6-2 in just over an hour.
Neuburger-Higby won 79% of his first serve points and converted all four of his break opportunities on Shamsi’s serve on his way to a comfortably victory.
The tie then came down to a doubles match between T&T’s Kale Dalla Costa and Alijah Leslie and USVI’s Del Olmo and Neuburger-Higby which the USVI pair dominated on the way to a 6-2, 6-3 victory.
Murray confirms retirement after Olympics
Andy Murray has confirmed he will retire after the Olympic Games in Paris.
The 37-year-old is set to compete in both the men's singles and doubles at what will be his fifth Olympics.
Murray first competed in Beijing in 2008 and won his first gold medal four years later in London with a straight-sets victory over Roger Federer.
He then became the first male player to win two singles titles at the Games by beating Juan Martin del Potro in Rio in 2016.
In a post on X, Murray wrote: "Arrived in Paris for my last ever tennis tournament.
"Competing for Team GB has been by far the most memorable weeks of my career and I'm extremely proud to get to do it one final time!"
Murray made his final appearance at Wimbledon, where he is a two-time champion, before the Olympics, suffering a first-round defeat with brother Jamie in the doubles.
He later received an emotional tribute on Centre Court to mark his achievements at the tournament.
Zverev confident of retaining Olympic gold despite injury concerns
Alexander Zverev is confident of claiming a second Olympic gold medal at the Paris games despite picking up an injury at Wimbledon earlier this month.
Zverev slipped during his third-round triumph against Cameron Norrie in SW19, bowing out of the competition in a five-set to Taylor Fritz in the following round.
The world number four has since competed in the Hamburg Open, a title he won a year ago, but fell at the final hurdle to Arthur Fils in a decisive final set tie-break.
Zverev, who became the first German to win an Olympic gold medal in singles since Steffi Graf did so in 1988, beat Karen Khachanov in the final in Tokyo four years ago.
The German described his injury as a bone edema and torn capsule and said that it did not require surgery ahead of the games.
"To be honest, you know, the risk will stay for the next two, three, four weeks maybe because that's how long the bone heals, and that's what everybody told me," Zverev said.
"But, at the end of the day I also knew that I don't want to rest for four weeks because, now we're playing on the surface where I don't see that big of a risk of doing the same motion again and doing the same movement again."
The tennis will take place at Roland Garros, a venue well-known to Zverev who reached the French Open final earlier this year, losing out on a first grand slam title to Carlos Alcaraz in five sets.
Zverev is also on the shortlist of German athletes who could be flagbearer for the nation during Friday's opening ceremony.
"If someone told me that I should walk in as a flag bearer, it would mean even more to me, to be honest (than winning the Olympics)," Zverev was quoted by SpilXperten.
"Leading an entire nation and so many top German athletes into the Olympics is simply the greatest honour an athlete can receive.
"And of course, the gold medal I won at the last Olympics is one of the highest achievements you can have in sports and for me personally the greatest success in my career."
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