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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Jasmine Paolini earned the biggest victory of her career by defeating qualifier Anna Kalinskaya 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 to win the Dubai Championships title Saturday.
The 26th-ranked Paolini fought back from a break down in both the second and third sets en route to her second career WTA singles title and first at the 1000 level.
Paolini, 28, avenged her loss to Kalinskaya from a month ago in the Australian Open fourth round, and Saturday’s victory assures her of a top-20 debut when the rankings are updated Monday.
“It’s so special; I’m really happy and really surprised-I don’t know what to say,” an emotional, smiling Paolini said on-court after securing the biggest win of her career.
“I’m just happy that I believed I could win every match,” Paolini said. “I remember my first match this week. It was second set, I’d lost the first and was a break down, yet now I’m here winning the title. It’s unbelievable.”
Kalinskaya had come through qualifying and beat three top-10 players in a row — including No. 1 Iga Swiatek — to reach the final.
The 40th-ranked Kalinskaya, the first qualifier to reach the Dubai final, had beaten No. 9 Jelena Ostapenko, then No. 3 Coco Gauff, then Swiatek. It was Swiatek’s first straight-sets loss in almost a year.
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