Paolini Becomes 1st Italian Women’s Player to Make Miami Open Tennis Semifinals 

Jasmine Paolini of Italy returns a shot against Magda Linette of Poland during Day 8 of the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium on March 25, 2025 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Getty Images/AFP)
Jasmine Paolini of Italy returns a shot against Magda Linette of Poland during Day 8 of the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium on March 25, 2025 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Paolini Becomes 1st Italian Women’s Player to Make Miami Open Tennis Semifinals 

Jasmine Paolini of Italy returns a shot against Magda Linette of Poland during Day 8 of the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium on March 25, 2025 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Getty Images/AFP)
Jasmine Paolini of Italy returns a shot against Magda Linette of Poland during Day 8 of the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium on March 25, 2025 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Getty Images/AFP)

Jasmine Paolini is headed to the Miami Open semifinals for the first time.

The sixth-seeded Paolini defeated unseeded Magda Linette of Poland 6-3, 6-2 on Tuesday, becoming the first woman to make the tournament's final four this year.

Paolini is the first Italian woman to make the semifinals at Miami. There were six instances of Italian women making the quarterfinals there, most recently Martina Trevisan in 2023.

Paolini will face top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals. Sabalenka topped ninth-seeded Qinwen Zheng of China 6-2, 7-5 in their quarterfinal match on Tuesday night, capping a day where rain postponed many matches by several hours.

The other side of the women's bracket is set for quarterfinal matches Wednesday, with fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula of the US taking on Britain's Emma Radacanu, and second-seeded Iga Swiatek facing Alexandra Eala of the Philippines.



Ancelotti: Mission Accomplished as Real Madrid Reach Cup Final

Real Madrid's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti gestures on the touchline during the Spanish Copa del Rey (King's Cup) semi-final second leg football match between Real Madrid CF and Real Sociedad at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on April 1, 2025. (Photo by JAVIER SORIANO / AFP)
Real Madrid's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti gestures on the touchline during the Spanish Copa del Rey (King's Cup) semi-final second leg football match between Real Madrid CF and Real Sociedad at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on April 1, 2025. (Photo by JAVIER SORIANO / AFP)
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Ancelotti: Mission Accomplished as Real Madrid Reach Cup Final

Real Madrid's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti gestures on the touchline during the Spanish Copa del Rey (King's Cup) semi-final second leg football match between Real Madrid CF and Real Sociedad at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on April 1, 2025. (Photo by JAVIER SORIANO / AFP)
Real Madrid's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti gestures on the touchline during the Spanish Copa del Rey (King's Cup) semi-final second leg football match between Real Madrid CF and Real Sociedad at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on April 1, 2025. (Photo by JAVIER SORIANO / AFP)

It was mission accomplished, said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti after his side fought back from two-goals behind to snatch a rip-roaring 4-4 draw on Tuesday for a 5-4 aggregate win that put them through to the Copa del Rey final.
Ancelotti brushed off questions about a sub-par performance by his side and praised his players' effort in what he considered a highly entertaining encounter.
"We have achieved our goal today which was to reach the final and there is not much time to think about it," Ancelotti told a press conference.
"It was an entertaining game with some mistakes and a lot of good things. It was fun and we are in the final.
"I never saw ourselves out of it because anything can happen at the Bernabeu. When we have to come from behind, we never give up. We never give up, especially at home, with the fans by our side."
According to Reuters, Ancelotti said David Alaba was not to blame after he deflected two balls into his own goal, calling it "bad luck" by the Austrian defender, but urged his defense to play with better focus moving forward.
"It's not good to concede four goals in a game," Ancelotti said.
"Right now we are a team that has a lot of effectiveness up-front, but little balance.
"However, we can't ignore what we did in attack, scoring four goals against Real is not that easy. I think we are doing quite well."
Real Madrid, who have won the Spanish Cup only once in over a decade, will play either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid in a mouth-watering final in Seville next month.
Atletico fought back to hold Barca to a thrilling 4-4 draw ahead of Wednesday's second-leg in Madrid.