Navarro had won all three of the pair’s previous meetings going into their Centre Court clash, and it looked like the American might be on her way to another win this time as she got the first break of the match in the third game to go up 2-1, but the No. 7-seeded Paolini took complete charge from there, breaking right back and eventually winning 11 of the next 12 games to roll past the No. 19 seed and punch her ticket into the semis.
Paolini finished the match with 19 winners to just 12 unforced errors, and didn’t allow Navarro a single point on her second serve (0/10). She also converted five of her six break point opportunities.
Awaiting the Italian in Thursday’s semifinals will be unseeded Donna Vekic of Croatia, a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 winner over New Zealand’s Lulu Sun, who was a qualifier into the main draw.
Paolini leads Vekic in their head-to-head series, 2-1, though this will be their first career meeting away from hard courts.
More to come…
