Paolini beats Gauff to become first home player in 40 years to win the Italian Open

ROME (AP) — Jasmine Paolini got the party started at the Foro Italico. And now the stage is set for Jannik Sinner to cap it off.

Paolini took advantage of the crowd’s support and beat Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-2 to become the first home player to win the Italian Open in 40 years on Saturday.

With the top-ranked Sinner to play Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s final on Sunday, Italy could earn its first sweep of the Rome singles titles.

The last Italian woman to win the open was Raffaella Reggi in 1985 in Taranto. The last local man to raise the trophy was Adriano Panatta in 1976.

When Paolini hit a big serve down the T on her second championship point and Gauff couldn’t get it back, she celebrated with a big smile and raised her arms as she spun around in joy.

“It doesn’t seem real to me," Paolini said. "I came here as a kid to see this tournament but winning it and holding up this trophy wasn’t even in my dreams.”

Before the trophy ceremony, the crowd chanted “Ole, ole, ole, Jas-mine, Jas-mine,” and Paolini responded by forming her hands into a heart shape.

“The crowd has been incredible,” she said.

Paolini and partner Sara Errani are also in the women’s doubles final and will play Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens for that trophy, too, on Sunday.

“It’s been two incredible weeks and it’s not finished yet,” Paolini said.

With the country’s tennis boom in full force, Italy President Sergio Mattarella attended the women’s final on Campo Centrale.

Numerous fans held aloft Italian flags and they constantly shouted “Vai Jasmine” (“Go Jasmine”).

The fifth-ranked Paolini was the runner-up at the French Open and Wimbledon and led Italy to the Billie Jean King Cup title last year. She and Errani also won gold in doubles at the Paris Olympics.

Paolini will move up to No. 4 in the rankings on Monday, which will improve her position in the draw for the French Open starting next weekend.

At age 29, Paolini is achieving much more than she did earlier in her career.

“I played her a long time ago in Adelaide,” Gauff said, referring to a match that the American won in 2021. “I remember her playing a little bit more of a passive game style. Now she’s more aggressive.”

Indeed, despite her height of 5-foot-4 (1.63 meters), Paolini is able to produce powerful groundstrokes and she often outhit Gauff.

“Today was my best match of the week,” she said, “and I needed that to beat Gauff.”

Despite her success last year, Paolini recently made a coaching change and replaced Renzo Furlan with Marc Lopez. Errani is also almost always with her, too, and acts as an unofficial coach.

“She is capable of playing top-two, No. 1-in-the-world tennis,” Gauff said.

Gauff, the 2023 U.S. Open champion who was ranked No. 3, made a whopping 55 unforced errors to Paolini’s 20 and hit seven double faults to Paolini’s none.

“Maybe I could have served better and put more balls in the court,” Gauff said. “I definitely could and can. But she played to win today and she deserved to win. … With the double-faults, it’s something I know I have to improve.”

It’s the second time in two clay-court tournaments that Gauff has finished runner-up. She lost the Madrid Open final two weeks ago to Aryna Sabalenka.

Gauff was coming off the longest match of her career, a 3 1/2-hour victory over Zheng Qinwen in the semifinals that ended in the early Friday morning.

Paolini also beat Gauff at a clay-court event in Stuttgart, Germany, in April.

Monica Seles in 1990 was the last woman to sweep Rome’s singles and doubles titles in the same year.

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Jasmine Paolini of Italy, reacts after winning the Italian Open tennis tournament at the Foro Italico in Rome, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Jasmine Paolini of Italy, eyes on the ball during a final tennis match against Coco Gauff of the United States in the Italian Open at the Foro Italico in Rome, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italy's President Sergio Mattarella, center, attends the Italian Open tennis final match between Coco Gauff of the United States and Jasmine Paolini of Italy at the Foro Italico, in Rome, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Coco Gauff of the United States, reacts after losing a point to Jasmine Paolini of Italy during their final tennis match in the Italian Open at the Foro Italico in Rome, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Jasmine Paolini of Italy, kisses the trophy after winning the Italian Open tennis tournament at the Foro Italico in Rome, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Jasmine Paolini, of Italy, reacts to defeating Coco Gauff, of the United States, at the end of their Italian Open tennis match final, at the Foro Italico in Rome, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela's leader.

Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as U.S. forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country's oil products.

Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.

“Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”

Trump also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.

Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro's capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.

“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”

A person watches the oil tanker Ocean Mariner, Monrovia, arrive to the bay in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

President Donald Trump attends a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)