Holders Italy fought back from the brink to beat Ukraine 2-1 and return to the Billie Jean King Cup final on Friday, with Jasmine Paolini beating Elina Svitolina to level the tie before partnering Sara Errani to seal a decisive doubles win.
Victory at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre Arena helped the Italians become the first team to reach three successive finals in the elite women’s team competition since the Czech Republic won three straight titles from 2014-16.
Paolini and Errani secured the tie by beating the Ukrainian pair of Marta Kostyuk and Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-2 6-3 to draw loud applause from the sizeable crowd of Italian fans who remained in their seats until close to midnight in southeastern China.
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Former world number three Svitolina earlier squandered the chance to hand her country an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie and the opportunity to fight for their maiden trophy on Sunday after she went down 3-6 6-4 6-4 to an inspired Paolini.
The 31-year-old broke Paolini in the third game of their contest with some aggressive hitting from the baseline and took the opening set with a sizzling backhand winner to leave five-times champions Italy on the ropes.
Paolini responded by breaking early in the second set but Svitolina took control from there and was a point away from a 5-2 advantage, before losing her way again with a flurry of uncharacteristic errors to surrender the set.
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Having levelled the clash, Paolini fought fiercely to hold in an eight-deuce game early in the decider and went ahead 4-2 before Svitolina clawed he way back, but the determined Italian would not be denied as she raised her level again to prevail.
The tie-levelling victory came after Ukraine’s Kostyuk took apart Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-2 6-3, leaving world number eight Paolini needing a first victory over Svitolina in their third meeting to keep her team alive.
Up next for Italy is either the U.S., who will seek a record-extending 19th title in the competition previously called the Fed Cup, or four-times runners-up Britain, with those two teams playing in the other semifinal on Saturday.
Published on Sep 19, 2025