Coco Gauff vs. Jasmine Paolini: Where to watch their Rome final, preview and pick

🖥️ 📱 Stream this match live on TennisChannel.com here (Saturday, 11:00 a.m. ET)

This year’s women’s event in Rome has had its share of tough contests and unlikely comebacks, and these two are the final survivors.

Paolini looked done and dusted back in the quarters when she was down a set and 4-1 to Diana Shnaider. Gauff was pushed to the limit, and won the longest match of her career, in a final-set tiebreaker over Zheng Qinwen in the semis.

The Italian and the American both started the year slowly, but have gradually found their old form in recent weeks. Now these two former Roland Garros finalists, who are also two of the fastest players on tour, will vie for the biggest clay-court title of their careers, and try to gain as much momentum as they can for Paris.

Read more: Jasmine Paolini has shown in Rome that she’s no one-year wonder

Gauff leads their head-to-head 2-1, but it may be Paolini’s one win that means the most right now. It came last month on red clay in Stuttgart. Gauff started that match with uncommon aggression, and jumped out to an early lead.

But in a pattern we’ve seen this week from Paolini, she took that early punch and began to match, and then surpass, Gauff’s level. She was ultimately the more varied and versatile player, disrupting Gauff’s rhythm with drop shots, and flying forward for finishing volleys. Moving in, which comes naturally for Paolini the doubles expert, is the best way to beat Gauff's speed.

“That was a tough match,” Gauff said on Thursday of her Stuttgart defeat. “She played well. She’s a tough opponent. I think especially here with the home crowd behind her, she’s going to be playing some great tennis. I have to expect that.”

Gauff will face a couple of issues in the rematch. While she was gritty in her win over Zheng, it’s hard to say she was good; she made 82 unforced errors and just 27 winners, as both players struggled to generate pace in the cool night conditions, using the heavy balls employed in Rome.

How much confidence can she take from that performance? Gauff is hoping for better things in the daytime.

“The final I think is a little bit in the day, so hopefully it’s a little bit faster,” she says.

But Gauff sounded slightly resigned to the possibility of defeat—a realistic attitude, perhaps, but not an ideal one for a competitor.

“Hopefully I can bring a better level and hopefully win the title,” she said. “If not, I’m proud just really of [beating Zheng], too.”

Read more: Rome Betting Preview: Jasmine Paolini vs. Coco Gauff

If Gauff benefits from more light, Paolini will benefit from the noise on Saturday. It will be made by a capacity crowd in Campo Centrale that’s pulling for her to become Rome’s first home-country champion, man or woman, in 40 years.

As that statistic shows, Italian players have tended to be overwhelmed, rather than inspired, by the hopes of their fans. But that has changed in 2025, with Paolini, Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti all making the semifinals, and Sinner joining Paolini in reaching the title match. The spirited Paolini in particular has soaked in the cheers and let them buoy her.

Gauff is higher-ranked and more experienced in finals; she has won 10 titles to Paolini’s two. But as much as she would like to take home her first 1000-level clay trophy, it will probably be Paolini who brings the life-or-death energy to this contest. Winner: Paolini