Paolini takes title in Dubai Championships Odermatt earns third straight Cup crown
Jasmine Paolini earned her biggest title by defeating Anna Kalinskaya 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the Dubai Championships final.
Paolini fought back from a break down in the second and third sets en route to the second WTA singles title of her nine-year tourlevel career.
The 26th-ranked Paolini and 40th-ranked Kalinskaya defied a field that started with 16 of the top 20 women, including the top four.
Paolini won her first title in Slovenia in 2021 and lost three finals since then. She lost to Kalinskaya a month ago in the Australian Open fourth round. Saturday's win assured the Italian of a top 15 debut when the rankings are updated Monday.
“It's so special. I'm really happy and really surprised,” an emotional, smiling Paolini said on court.
Paolini trailed 6-4, 3-1. Then she was 4-2 down in the third set. She stopped Kalinskaya serving for the match at 5-4.
Kalinskaya came through qualifying and beat three top-10 players in a row — including No. 1 Iga Swiatek — to reach her first final. Kalinskaya will debut in the top 30 on Monday.
• Defending champion Cameron Norrie has been bounced out of the Rio Open with a shocking straight sets semifinal defeat to qualifier Mariano Navone in Rio de Janeiro.
The 22-year-old Argentine beat the second-seeded British player 6-4, 6-2 to advance to his first tour-level final where he will play compatriot Sebastián Báez.
Norrie didn't offer much resistance to the 113thranked Navone despite having become the favorite to win the clay-court tournament
Marco Odermatt clinched his third consecutive World Cup overall title by claiming a 10th giant slalom victory in a row.
The 26-year-old from Switzerland has been so dominant this season that he is assured of taking home the crystal globe for having the most points in the standings even though there are still 10 of 38 races remaining on the schedule.
Odermatt's win at the Palisades Tahoe resort boosted his total to 1,702 points, a whopping 1,001 ahead of Manuel Feller's 701. Each victory is worth 100 points, so there is no way Odermatt can be caught.
Under a bright sun and blue sky, with the temperature approaching 50 degrees, Odermatt completed two runs in a combined time of 2 minutes, 11.69 seconds. That allowed him to finish 0.12 seconds ahead of Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen.
No other ski racer came within a second of Odermatt on Saturday. American River Radamus was 1.37 seconds back in third for the first World Cup podium of his career.
Odermatt's Swiss teammates Thomas Tumler, Gino Caviezel and Loic Meillard took spots 4-5-6.
Kristoffersen was in second place after the first leg, behind Odermatt, but briefly took over the lead after the second run. Then it was the reigning Olympic gold medalist and world champion's turn as the last racer down the slope, and while briefly dropping behind Kristoffersen's pace twice, including by 0.30 seconds midway through, Odermatt made up for it with a sterling finish.
Odermatt has won all