Things just keep on getting better for Jasmine Paolini at Wimbledon. She secured her second quarterfinal berth at the Grand Slam after a monumental 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Alexandra Eala. What made the victory even more special for Jasmine Paolini was seeing her idol, Roger Federer, watching from the stands. The Italian made sure to acknowledge his presence after the win.

“I want to thank you Roger (Federer) because he’s my idol,” she said during the post-match interview. “I was like ‘please stay focused. Don’t think that he’s here.’ I was watching all the finals in all the tournaments he played here.”

Notably, this was the first time that Federer had attended one of Paolini’s matches at Wimbledon. But this isn’t the first time that the 30-year-old has expressed her admiration for the Swiss Maestro at the SW19. During the 2024 Championships, after her 6-2, 6-1 quarterfinal victory over Emma Navarro, Paolini had also shared her appreciation for Federer.

“Between the two, perhaps the most incredible is the semifinal at Wimbledon,” she had said during a press conference back in 2024, referring to the Roland Garros semi-finals that she reached the same year.

“And between making the semifinals in Paris and making the semifinals at Wimbledon, if they had told me choose, I would have said Wimbledon. I remember, as a lot of Federer’s finals report. I was a huge Roger fan and I watched them all.”

While his presence in the stands could have added to the pressure, Jasmine Paolini stayed composed and delivered one of her finest performances at Wimbledon.

There weren’t a lot of expectations around Paolini as she entered Wimbledon this year. This was mainly because of her poor form on the tour and her dismal win-rate of 42.4% on grass-courts. But the 30-year-old has certainly proved many wrong with her performances in the tournament.

The win over Eala is undoubtedly her most impressive result of the season. The Filipino had entered the match brimming with confidence after knocking out defending champion Iga Swiatek 7-6, 6-2 in the previous round.

But Paolini managed to gain the upper hand in the first set thanks to Eala’s inconsistent serving. Although the Italian failed to serve it out at 5-3 after a flurry of unforced errors allowed Eala to break back, the Filipino continued to struggle behind her serve. Paolini seized the opportunity, and earned the decisive break to wrap up the opening set.

The two would trade breaks at the start of the second as Eala appeared to be back in her rhythm. The World No. 32 refused to go down easily and forced a decider after leveling the match. The third set was pretty evenly-matched in the opening seven games with both the players continuing to hold their serves.

But Eala faltered big time in her next service game as she committed a costly double-fault, gifting a break point to Paolini. The Italian took full advantage of this mistake and clinched the game to take a 5-3 lead. Though Eala looked to have a shot at breaking back with the score at 0-30, three consecutive unforced errors cost her a set and the match to Paolini.

The path will only get harder from here for Paolini and her next opponent is currently one of the most in-form players on the WTA circuit.

Jasmine Paolini to tackle Marta Kostyuk for the first time on grass

Paolini is set to face the high-flying Marta Kostyuk in the quarterfinals at the SW19. While the Italian may have a slender 2-1 lead in the H2H record, it is hard to raise questions over Kostyuk’s chances in the upcoming match.

This is because Kostyuk had a phenomenal clay swing where she clinched two titles and went unbeaten for 15 matches straight. Her streak was eventually brought to an end by Mirra Andreeva in the semifinals of the French Open.

There were doubts around Kostyuk’s fitness coming into Wimbledon. She had decided to pull out from the HSBC Championships due to a right ankle injury and thus, many were skeptical if she would be able to reach the later stages of the SW19.

But the Ukrainian has picked up from where she had left off and has been brilliant with her performances in the tournament so far. She has reached the quarterfinals after a comfortable 6-4, 6-4 victory over Ashlyn Krueger. Kostyuk even decided to withdraw from the doubles event following this result most likely in order to focus on her singles challenge.

The match between Paolini and Kostyuk certainly has the potential to be one of the most evenly-contested clashes of the tournament. It remains to be seen which one of the two will prove to be stronger on Wednesday.