Jasmine Paolini and Elisabetta Cocciaretto both came back from the brink of defeat to send Italy into the semi-finals of the Billie Jean King Cup.

Cocciaretto overcame Yue Yuan while Paolini battled past Wang Xinyu as defending champions Italy got the better of the host nation on Tuesday.

Yuan managed to take the lead in the first match against Cocciaretto as she broke serve twice to secure the first set 6-4 in front of her home crowd.

Despite going 5-2 down in both the second and third sets, though, Cocciaretto fought back remarkably to win both 7-5 and give Italy a 1-0 lead going into Paolini’s match against Wang.

Although Paolini was the favourite, Wang took the first set 6-4 after breaking her counterpart’s first service game.

It was then Paolini’s turn to show her grit and determination, recovering from 5-3 down to win the second 7-6 (7-4) and force a deciding set.

Paolini lost her serve twice in the third, but regained momentum toward the end of the set before securing the 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 win with her second match point.

Unrivalled Paolini passion @federtennis | #BJKCup pic.twitter.com/B3KiGZ209Y

— Billie Jean King Cup (@BJKCup) September 16, 2025

Data Debrief: Italy down, but never out

Paolini and Cocciaretto lost their serve a combined 11 times, but that did not stop them from continuing their title defence in Shenzhen.

Wang, meanwhile, fell short of sealing a fifth straight BJK Cup triumph.

Italy, who are aiming to become the first nation to win back-to-back titles since Czechia in 2016, will now face either Ukraine or five-time champions Spain in the last four.