Tennis-Paolini first Italian in 11 years to reach Rome final, Sinner thrashes Ruud

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Paolini first Italian in final since Errani in 2014

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Paolini will face Zheng or Gauff in final

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Sinner thrashes Ruud to reach semis

(Adds Sinner result)

ROME, May 15 (Reuters) - Jasmine Paolini became the first Italian woman in more than a decade to reach the final of her home Italian Open when she beat American Peyton Stearns 7-5 6-1 on Thursday.

Paolini is the first Italian to advance to the final in Rome since her doubles partner Sara Errani lost to Serena Williams in 2014.

Paolini had found herself a set and 4-0 down to Diana Shnaider in her quarter-final tie before storming to victory and once again the world number five had a slow start in the opening set before mounting a comeback.

"I am very happy, I don't know what to say! It's a dream to be here, it's a dream to play in Italy, it's a dream to be able to play the final," the 29-year-old said.

Any hopes of a quick start for Paolini were put to rest when Stearns jumped into a 3-0 lead amid muted applause from the home crowd and the Italian soon found herself 4-1 down.

The American looked comfortable and poised to take the opening set before Paolini clawed her way back as she saved set points to level it at 5-5, pumping her fist with a triumphant scream that got the crowd roaring again.

The comeback was complete when Paolini, having won four games in a row, took the opening set after more than an hour of play.

The momentum was firmly with Paolini as she broke Stearns for a fifth time to go 4-1 up in the second set and the deflated American had no answer as the Italian's winners whizzed past her.

Stearns fired a forehand wide on match point as the crowd erupted and Paolini raised her arms in celebration.

"You (the crowd) gave me a boost because today it was a bit of an uphill start and I struggled at the beginning, thank goodness you were there," she added.

"We won this match together. Point after point I managed to fight, to turn it around, even if at the beginning I did not have a good feeling. But I am happy with the way I managed to turn this match around."

Paolini will face either Zheng Qinwen or Coco Gauff in Saturday's final.

RUTHLESS SINNER

It was a good day for Italy as men's world number one Jannik Sinner put in a ruthless display in the evening session to dismantle newly-crowned

Madrid Open champion Casper Ruud

6-0 6-1 in the quarter-final.

Sinner dropped only seven points in the opening set while he won eight games in a row before Ruud managed to get on the board.

The Norwegian even raised his arms in mock celebration when he finally won a game amid cheers from the home fans but Sinner was in no mood to hang around as he wrapped up the match in 63 minutes to reach his first semi-final in Rome.

"I was feeling great on court today. I think we all saw that. My goal was trying to understand where my level is here in this tournament. It raised day by day, so I'm very happy about that," Sinner said.

"It doesn't matter really, the result, but how I felt today was a very, very positive sign for me... I think today everything worked very, very well. I was serving well and also returning well, moving great on the court."

Sinner will next play American Tommy Paul while the other semi-final will pit his Italian compatriot Lorenzo Musetti against Spanish third seed Carlos Alcaraz. (Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge and Toby Davis)