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Matteo Berrettini recently celebrated fellow Italian Jasmine Paolini's entry into the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships 2024.
The unseeded Paolini began her campaign in Dubai with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 win over 11th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia. She then went past Canada's Leylah Fernandez 6-3, 6-4 before downing eighth seed Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-2.
Paolini received a pass in the quarterfinals as her opponent Elena Rybakina withdrew due to illness. In her semifinal on Friday, February 23, the World No. 26 overcame Romania's Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 7-6 (6) after an intense fight that lasted nearly two hours.
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Paolini's effort received acknowledgment from her compatriot and ATP star Matteo Berrettini, who took to Instagram and commented on a video capturing Paolini's moment of victory over Cirstea.
"Jassssssss," Berrettini wrote.
This is the first time Jasmine Paolini has reached the final of a WTA 1000 event. She will take on the in-form Anna Kalinskaya, who shocked Iga Swiatek in her semifinal match.
The Dubai Tennis Championships decider is expected to be a close encounter as Paolini and Kalinskaya currently stand on level terms, with their head-to-head reading 1-1. Interestingly, the duo have already met this year. They clashed in the fourth round of the Australian Open, where World No. 40 Kalinskaya came out on top with a 6-4, 6-2 victory.
Irrespective of the outcome of the final, both Paolini and Kalinskaya will reach career-high rankings when the WTA updates its standings on Monday.
Matteo Berrettini 'less interested' in rankings after dropping out of ATP Top 100
On the ATP side of things, Matteo Berrettini has slipped out of the top 100. He retired midway through his second-round match at the US Open 2023 due to an ankle injury and later pulled out of the Australian Open 2024.
In the current standings for men's singles, Berrettini sits at the 129th spot, which is a far cry from his career-high ranking of World No. 6.
However, the Italian recently said he doesn't care as much about rankings anymore and instead wants to challenge the players dominating the courts at present. In a press conference online, he said:
"Right now I'm less interested in rankings. I'm interested in getting back to playing games with top players." (via Corriere dello Sport; translated)
The Italian is set to skip the Indian Wells Open 2024 and resume his journey at the Challenger circuit in Phoenix, Arizona.
"I'm not going to play Indian Wells, the idea is to go back to Phoenix and Miami. We go day by day, week by week, I feel better and better. Then the whole season on clay," Matteo Berrettini added.
