Italy's Jasmine Paolini reached her first Wimbledon final with a stirring fightback to beat tearful Croatian Donna Vekic 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10/8).

Donna Vekic said the lesson was to "never give up" after overcoming dark times to reach her first Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon.

Reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka suffered an opening round upset at the hands of familiar foe Donna Vekic, going down 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-0 in Dubai.

Belinda Bencic ensured a return to the world rankings top-10 for the first time since June 2016 with the victory.

Naomi Osaka battled back from 1-5 down in the final set to beat Donna Vekic 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) but denied that she was struggling this year.

Kiki Bertens fired eight aces to prevail 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 in one hour 43 minutes to record her first ever win over Donna Vekic.

Both Johanna Konta and Caroline Wozniacki are angling for a maiden Grand Slam title with the winner of their clash on Saturday potentially facing sixth seed Dominika Cibulkova in the Australian Open fourth round and Serena Williams in the quarters.

Donna Vekic (19) was the player Nick Kyrgios was referring to when he jibed at his Swiss opponent Stanislas Wawrinka in a match last week in Montreal. The court microphone caught Kyrgios' comments and the issue became global sports headlines the very next day.

The coach of Donna Vekic is making sure the latest golden girl of women's tennis keeps focused after bursting into the limelight after reaching Sunday's final in Birmingham.

The former world number five from Slovakia showed she still has remarkable resilience as she beat the sensational new girl - Donna Vekic - from Croatia 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.