Gauff, Routliffe to meet Italian hopes Errani, Paolini in Rome doubles final

Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini will carry homeland hopes into the Internazionali BNL d'Italia doubles final on Sunday, where the Italians will face No.3 seeds Coco Gauff of the United States and New Zealand's Erin Routliffe for the WTA 1000 title.

Errani and Paolini opened Center Court play on Friday with a 6-1, 6-2 semifinal upset of No.8 seeds Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk. The all-Italian pairing needed just 60 minutes to storm into the final on home soil.

"It's very special to be here in a final here in Rome with our crowd," said Errani, who reached the WTA Doubles World No.1 ranking for the first time back in 2012. "We are very, very happy."

Errani and Paolini won six of their eight return games in the semifinal showdown, while only dropping serve a single time.

"I think we played a really good match," Errani said. "We spoke before [about] what to do, and we did it very well. Was quite perfect."

Errani and Paolini are the first Italians to make the Rome women's doubles final since Errani teamed with compatriot Roberta Vinci to make three straight finals between 2012 and 2014 (they won the title in 2012).

Later on Center Court, Gauff and Routliffe battled past Wang Xinyu and Zheng Saisai 6-3, 7-6(3) in 1 hour and 28 minutes. In their first tournament as a doubles partnership, Gauff and Routliffe find themselves a win away from the title.

Gauff and Routliffe's semifinal victory over China's Wang and Zheng was not easy, particularly in the topsy-turvy second set where 10 of 12 games went against serve.

Gauff served for the match at 5-4 and held a match point in that game, but she was unable to wrap up the win. Routliffe then served for the match at 6-5, and she also had a match point, but a Wang lob winner on deciding point sent the set into a tiebreak.

Gauff and Routliffe regrouped in the breaker, romping to a 6-2 lead before converting their fourth match point to obtain victory. Gauff and Routliffe won 13 of 16 points (83 percent) when returning the Chinese duo's second serves.

Gauff is into her second straight Rome final and is attempting to go one better this year. Last year, Gauff and Jessica Pegula finished as Rome runners-up to Storm Hunter and Elise Mertens.