Firenze Ladies Open: Paolini beats Townsend to win the title in Florence

Italian Jasmine Paolini, the No. 4 seed, lifted the Firenze Ladies Open trophy by beating American Taylor Townsend 6-3, 7-5 to win the second title of her career.

Paolini had previously won the WTA 125 event (another WTA Challenger Tour event) in Croatia just under two years ago, and has added a second at this level to her collection in front of her home crowd.

Paolini, ranked No 65, defeated Katie Swan (6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7)), Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska (7-5, 4-6, 6-3), Swiss Ylena In-Albon (4-6, 6-4, 6-4) and No 8 seed Lucia Bronzetti (7-6 (11), 2-6, 6-2) ahead of her victory.

Earlier in the tournament, Townsend, ranked No 168, beat Croat Ana Konjuh (5-2 ret.), Romanian Ana Bogdan, the No 3 seed (6-0, 6-4), Italian wildcard Matilde Paoletti (6-3, 6-2) and Italian Sara Errani, the No 6 seed (4-6, 7-5, 7-5).