'The best thing in the world': Errani, Paolini win French Open doubles title

No. 2-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini added to their trophy collection by capturing the 2025 Roland Garros women's doubles title, their first Grand Slam title as a team.

For the past couple of years, the all-Italian pairing of Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini have been one of the winningest doubles teams on the Hologic WTA Tour. On Sunday, they added a Grand Slam title to their collection at last.

Roland Garros: Draws | Scores

In the last women's match of 2025 Roland Garros, No. 2 seeds Errani and Paolini held off unseeded Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan and Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 to capture the women's doubles title at the French Open.

It took 2 hours and 15 minutes for the countrywomen to deny Danilina and Krunic another upset and become the first Italians to win the Roland Garros women's doubles title since Errani teamed with Roberta Vinci in 2012.

"It's tennis, we never stop, every day," Errani said during the trophy presentation. "You just try to be focused every day, and maybe you are not enjoying 100 percent what is happening, because you cannot stop and feel it. But right now, I feel it, and I am trying to realize what we are doing is so big. Winning a Grand Slam is the best thing in the world."

Paolini breaks new ground, Errani adds to legacy: It is the first Grand Slam title in any discipline for Paolini. Last year, the Italian No. 1 reached two Grand Slam finals in singles, and she and Errani made the Roland Garros doubles final. But this was the first time Paolini translated her efforts into a Slam title.

Former WTA Doubles World No. 1 Errani has now won six Grand Slam titles in women's doubles, and this is her first in over a decade. She and her compatriot Vinci were a legendary team between 2012 and 2014, when they completed the Career Grand Slam in women's doubles.

With Sunday's win, 38-year-old Errani completed a flawless fortnight in doubles. On Thursday, she and another Italian, Andrea Vavassori, won the 2025 Roland Garros mixed doubles title. She and Vavassori also won the 2024 US Open mixed doubles title.

"You are really an inspiration for me," Paolini said to Errani on court. "It's great to have you in my team and sharing these moments with you, it's something special. You are a legend, for me."

Racking up titles: Errani and Paolini won their first team title at 2023 Monastir, and quickly increased their trophy haul as the last two years ticked by.

In May of 2024, they captured a WTA 1000 title on home soil in Rome, setting themselves up for a run to the Olympic gold medal later that summer. Their gold-medal victory came on the same court they found themselves on today: Court Philippe-Chatrier at Roland Garros.

Three more WTA 1000 titles followed, including a successful title defense in Rome. But they fell short in their one Grand Slam final together: a runner-up finish at last year's Roland Garros, where they were defeated by Coco Gauff and Katerina Siniakova.

On Sunday, though, Errani and Paolini went one step further to take the clay-court major.

Fast facts: Danilina and Krunic battled hard to try to complete their fortnight of upsets with one last shocker on Sunday. They had already beaten three seeded teams to get to the final, including No. 1 seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend in the quarterfinals.

This was their first event as a team since they made the 2022 Cleveland final nearly three years ago. Krunic was in her first Grand Slam final, but Danilina had previous Slam final experience -- she won the 2023 US Open mixed doubles title with Harri Heliovaara and made the 2022 Australian Open women's doubles final with Beatriz Haddad Maia.

Errani and Paolini dropped their first set of the fortnight in the middle of the match, but they quickly regrouped and dominated the decider. In the third set, the Italians converted two of seven break points and erased the one break point they faced.

At a pivotal moment, Paolini fired one of her signature forehands to convert her team's fourth break point of a grueling game and lead 2-0 in the third set. Two games later, Errani slammed a forehand winner off the netcord to build an commanding 4-0 lead, and she and Paolini were headed to the trophy.

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