PALERMO, Sicily — Lucia Bronzetti reached her first final on tour by rallying past fellow Italian Jasmine Paolini 0-6, 6-3, 6-3 at the Palermo Ladies Open.
Paolini double-faulted to hand Bronzetti a 5-3 lead in the third set and a chance to serve it out – which Bronzetti did at love.
The 78th-ranked Bronzetti wasn´t expecting to get this far.
“If you had told me at the start of the week, I wouldn´t have believed it,” she said according to AP.
Elsewhere, world No.1 Iga Swiatek will return to Hologic WTA Tour action in her nation’s capital at the WTA 250 BNP Paribas Poland Open. The clay-court event will kick off on Monday.
Swiatek compiled a 37-match winning streak on tour earlier this year, equaling the longest undefeated run since 1990 and capturing her second Grand Slam title at Roland Garros in the process.
Swiatek’s streak came to an end with a third-round loss to Alizé Cornet at Wimbledon three weeks ago.
Playing her first event since then, Swiatek will be part of an all-Polish clash in the first round as she takes on Magdalena Frech, the World No.84 and third-ranked Polish player. The compatriots will be meeting for the first time on tour.
Frech has recently made waves at major events. Frech barely lost to Angelique Kerber in a match-of-the-year candidate in the first round of Roland Garros, then made her first trip to the third round of a Grand Slam event at Wimbledon.
At the bottom of the draw, defending champion Maryna Zanevska will play No.9 seed Varvara Gracheva, who took a seeded slot after No.2 seed Yulia Putintseva withdrew due to a left wrist injury.
Zanevska won the event when it took place in Gdynia last year for her first tour-level title.
In other first-round matches in Warsaw, No.3 seed Sara Sorribes Tormo will play Danka Kovinic, and No.8 seed Petra Martic, who won the Lausanne title last week, goes up against Polish wildcard Weronika Falkowska.
