Description:
Flavia Pennetta (born 25 February 1982 in Brindisi, Puglia) is an Italian professional tennis player. She became Italy's first top 10 female singles player on 17 August 2009 and also the first ever Italian Tennis player to be ranked No.1 in Doubles on 28 February 2011. As of February 28, 2011, Pennetta is ranked World No. 15 in singles and World No. 1 in doubles.
Pennetta has won nine career WTA singles titles, including back-to-back titles in Bogotá and Acapulco in 2005. She and her Italian teammates Mara Santangelo, Francesca Schiavone, and Roberta Vinci beat the Belgium team 3–2 in the 2006 Fed Cup final. Justine Henin
Flavia Pennetta (born 25 February 1982 in Brindisi, Puglia) is an Italian professional tennis player. She became Italy's first top 10 female singles player on 17 August 2009 and also the first ever Italian Tennis player to be ranked No.1 in Doubles on 28 February 2011. As of February 28, 2011, Pennetta is ranked World No. 15 in singles and World No. 1 in doubles.
Pennetta has won nine career WTA singles titles, including back-to-back titles in Bogotá and Acapulco in 2005. She and her Italian teammates Mara Santangelo, Francesca Schiavone, and Roberta Vinci beat the Belgium team 3–2 in the 2006 Fed Cup final. Justine Henin had to retire in the fifth and final match due to an injury in her right knee, which let Italy win their first Fed Cup trophy. She was also a member of their winning team in 2009 and 2010, when they beat the United States on both occasions.
Pennetta has defeated multiple Grand Slam singles champions such as Justine Henin, Mary Pierce, Martina Hingis, Francesca Schiavone, Amélie Mauresmo, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, and former World No. 1 Jelena Janković. Pennetta is also one of only seven women to beat Williams three consecutive times. In doubles, Pennetta won her first Grand Slam title at the 2011 Australian Open with partner Gisela Dulko, and also reached the 2005 US Open final partnered with Elena Dementieva. She has also reached the US Open quarterfinals twice in singles.
Pennetta was pronounced a Knight of Order of Merit of the Republic on 24 January 2007 by the President of Italy.
Career:
Pennetta was introduced to tennis at the age of five by her father. Aged seventeen, she won the 1999 French Open in girls' doubles with fellow Italian Roberta Vinci.
Pennetta began to play on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) circuit in 1997. The following year, she lost in the second round of her first qualifying tournament for a WTA Tour main draw, the Internazionali Femminili di Palermo. In 1999, Pennetta won two singles titles and two doubles titles on the ITF circuit. She was unsuccessful in her several attempts to qualify for WTA Tour main draws in 2000. The following year, she limited her play to the ITF circuit.
She played her first main draw WTA Tour match at the 2002 Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Tennessee, where she lost in the first round. She also lost in the first round in Palermo but reached the second round of the Idea Prokom Open in Sopot. Her ranking reached the Top 100 for the first time on September 23, 2002, when she reached World No. 100.
In 2003, Pennetta lost in the semifinals of the Hyderabad Indian Open to eventual champion Tamarine Tanasugarn. She also reached the quarterfinals at the Canberra Women's Classic, Copa Colsanitas, and Abierto Mexicano Telcel. She also debuted in the main draws of all four Grand Slam tournaments. Her best result was the third round of the French Open, where she defeated 21st-seeded Lisa Raymond in the second round before losing to Petra Mandula.
In 2004, Pennetta started the year at the Tier V Canberra Women's Classic, where she lost in the quarterfinals to Julia Vakulenko. At the Australian Open, she lost in the first round to Italian player Antonella Serra Zanetti 7–5, 6–4.
Pennetta then lost in the first round of both the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Tennessee and the Copa Colsanitas in Bogota, Colombia. These losses were followed by her first WTA Tour final at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco, when she was defeated by Iveta Benešová.
She played both of the Tier I spring time hard court tournaments in the United States. She beat Ľudmila Cervanová in the first round of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California before losing to Maria Sharapova. She then lost in the first round of qualifying for the NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne, Florida.
Returning to clay courts, Pennetta lost in the second round of two consecutive WTA tour tournaments, the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Casablanca and the Estoril Open in Portugal. At the Budapest Grand Prix, Pennetta lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Jelena Janković 6–3, 6–4. She then defeated World No. 6 Nadia Petrova in the second round of the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome before falling to World No. 21 Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi in the third round 6–2, 6–2. At the French Open, Pennetta lost in the first round, once more to Smashnova-Pistolesi, 6–1, 6–4.
In the first grass court tournament of her career, she defeated Marion Bartoli in the first round of the DFS Classic in Birmingham, United Kingdom, before losing to World No. 32 Alicia Molik in the second round. Pennetta achieved the same result at the Ordina Open, falling to World No. 85 Barbara Schett. At Wimbledon, she was beaten by Petrova in the first round 6–3, 2–6, 6–4.
In July, she played yet another clay court tournament, where she was beaten in the final of the Internazionali Femminili di Palermo by Anabel Medina Garrigues. Returning to hard courts for the first time since April, she lost to Henrieta Nagyová in the first round of the Nordea Nordic Light Open in Stockholm. The following week at the clay court Orange Prokom Open in Sopot, Poland, Pennetta won her first WTA Tour title, defeating Klára Koukalová in the final. Pennetta then lost to former World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport in the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati and to World No. 25 Magdalena Maleeva in the first round of the US Open 2–6, 6–4, 6–4.
Pennetta played four tournaments the remainder of the year. At the Wismilak International in Bali, Pennetta lost in the second round to eventual quarterfinalist Gisela Dulko. She then fell to María Vento-Kabchi in the first round of the China Open in Beijing and to Tamarine Tanasugarn in the second round of the Guangzhou International Women's Open. In her final event of the year, she lost to World No. 14 Ai Sugiyama in the second round of the Tier I Zürich Open 7–6(1), 6–1.
In Pennetta's first event of 2005, she reached the quarterfinals of the Uncle Tobys Hardcourts losing to Tatiana Golovin 6–7(5), 6–2, 6–4. She then lost in the first rounds of the Australian Open and the Open Gaz de France. In the next two weeks she bagged two titles in a row, the first one Copa Colsanitas defeating Lourdes Domínguez Lino in the finals 7–6(4), 6–4 and the second one in the Abierto Mexicano Telcel defeating Ľudmila Cervanová 3–6, 7–5, 6–3. She then lost early in her next tournaments. The second rounds of the Pacific Life Open, the Qatar Total German Open and the Rome Masters. She also lost in the first round of the Estoril Open and the third rounds of the Miami Masters and the French Open. She however bounced back in the Wimbledon Championships by reaching the fourth Round losing to Mary Pierce 6–3, 6–1 and the semifinals of both the Internazionali di Modena and the Internazionali Femminili di Palermo which were held in Italy. She followed it up with losses to Japanese players Akiko Morigami in Acura Classic and Aiko Nakamura in JPMorgan Chase Open. In the Rogers Cup she was crushed by eventual champion Kim Clijsters 6–0, 6–1. In the US Open she was upset by German Julia Schruff 6–4, 3–6, 7–5 in the first round. She also lost early in the China Open in the first round and the Kremlin Cup in the second round to eventual champion Mary Pierce. She ended the year with quarterfinal appearances in the Wismilak International, the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, and the Zurich Open. She ended the year ranked no. 23 in the world.
Pennetta started 2008 by losing in the second round of the Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts in Gold Coast to Dinara Safina 6–4, 2–6, 6–4. Pennetta then reached the semifinals of the Moorilla Hobart International, where she lost to eventual champion Eleni Danilidou 6–4, 6–3. At the Australian Open, she defeated Dominika Cibulková of Slovakia in the first round but fell to the 30th-seeded Virginie Razzano in the second round 6–2, 5–7, 6–3. Pennetta then played for Italy's Fed Cup team versus Spain. She played one singles match versus Anabel Medina Garrigues and lost 6–2, 6–3. Pennetta won her first title of the year at the Cachantún Cup in Viña del Mar, Chile, defeating Klára Zakopalová in the final. However, she lost in the first round of the Copa Colsanitas to Betina Jozami. Pennetta then won her second title of the year at the Acapulco Open, beating Alizé Cornet in the final.
As the 30th seed, Pennetta received a bye in the first round of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California. She then defeated Kaia Kanepi in the second round, but was defeated by fellow Italian Francesca Schiavone in the third round 6–3, 6–4. She also fell to defending champion Serena Williams at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida in the third round 6–7(6), 6–3, 6–2. Pennetta then lost in the second round of the Estoril Open to Iveta Benešová. Pennetta defeated Olga Savchuk in the first round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome before losing to defending champion Jelena Janković in the second round 6–4, 6–1. She then withdrew from her quarterfinal match against Anabel Medina Garrigues at the Internationaux de Strasbourg. At the French Open, Pennetta defeated eighth-seeded Venus Williams in the third round before losing to Carla Suárez Navarro in the fourth round. Pennetta lost in the first round of her first tournament on grass at the Ordina Open, to Sania Mirza. She then defeated Julia Vakulenko in the first round of Wimbledon before losing to Ai Sugiyama in the second round 7–6(5), 2–6, 6–2. She then played at the Internazionali Femminili di Palermo and lost to eventual champion, fellow Italian Sara Errani, in the semifinals. Pennetta then lost in the final of the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles to Dinara Safina. At the following tournament, the Rogers Cup, Pennetta was defeated by a qualifier, Michelle Larcher de Brito, in the second round. She was then the part of the Italian Olympic team at the Summer Olympics in Beijing; however lost to Kaia Kanepi in the first round. Pennetta also reached the second round of the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven, Connecticut. At the US Open, she defeated Stefanie Vögele in the first round, Shuai Peng in the second round, former World No. 3 Nadia Petrova in the third round, and former World No. 1 Amélie Mauresmo in the fourth round before losing to Safina in the quarterfinals. That was Pennetta's best career performance at a Grand Slam tournament.
Pennetta then reached the quarterfinals of Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali, losing to eventual runner-up Tamira Paszek. At the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, she lost in the quarterfinals to former World No. 1 Jelena Janković. Pennetta then lost to Kateryna Bondarenko in the first round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix; to World No. 1 Janković in the quarterfinals of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow; and to Venus Williams in the final of the Zürich Open. At her last tournament of the year, the Generali Linz Open, Pennetta defeated Ágnes Szávay in the first round and Dominika Cibulková in the second round before losing to former World No. 1 and eventual champion Ana Ivanović in the quartefinals 6–4, 6–4.
Pennetta played her first tournament of 2009 at the Moorilla Hobart International(actually it was at the Hyundai Hopman Cup), where she was the first seed. She defeated Shahar Pe'er in the first round and then fell to Magdaléna Rybáriková in the second round. Pennetta was the thirteenth seed at the Australian Open, where she lost in the third round to Anabel Medina Garrigues 6–4, 6–1. Pennetta then played for Italy's Fed Cup team in the Fed Cup World Group stage versus France. Italy won 5–0. Pennetta won both her singles matches over Amélie Mauresmo (2–6, 7–6(6), 6–4) and Alizé Cornet (6–2, 6–2). At her first tournament of the year on clay, the Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas in Bogotá, Colombia, Pennetta fell to Maša Zec Peškirič in the first round 6–3, 4–6, 7–6(4). She then reached the final of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco for the sixth straight year but lost to Venus Williams 6–1, 6–2. Returning to hard courts at the Monterrey Open, Pennetta lost to Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová in the second round. She was the fifteenth seed at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, the first Premier Mandatory event of the year, and lost in the fourth round to eventual runner-up Ana Ivanović 6–4, 4–6, 6–4. Pennetta lost in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, another Premier Mandatory event, to Mauresmo 6–7(5), 6–2, 6–2.
Pennetta then played a series of clay court events in preparation for the French Open. She lost to fellow Italian Roberta Vinci in the second round of the Barcelona Ladies Open 6–1, 6–2. She then played two matches for Italy's Fed Cup team in the World Group semifinals versus reigning champion Russia. She defeated Anna Chakvetadze and lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova, but the final result was 4–1 in favor of Italy. This will be the second Fed Cup final for Pennetta. The following week, she reached the semifinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart beating two top 10 players, Jelena Janković and Nadia Petrova, but fell to World No. 1 player Dinara Safina 3–6, 7–5, 6–0. At the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, a Premier 5 event, Pennetta lost in the third round to Kuznetsova, 6–0 in the third set. The following week, she was upset by Ágnes Szávay in the first round of the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, the third Premier Mandatory event of the year, 6–3, 6–7(2), 6–2. Pennetta, as the 11th seed, lost in the first round of the 2009 French Open to Alexa Glatch. At Wimbledon, she advanced to the third round where she was ousted by the No. 17 Amélie Mauresmo 7–5, 6–3. Pennetta then played on her home soil in Palermo, defeating Sara Errani in the final 6–1, 6–2. She and partner Vinci advanced to the semifinals in doubles. On the hard courts of Los Angeles, Pennetta upset Vera Zvonareva en route to the semifinals where she would be extended to three sets by Maria Sharapova. In her second consecutive final at the event, she defeated Samantha Stosur 6–4, 6–3. At Cincinnati, a premier 5 event, she extended her winning streak to 15 matches, maintaining an impressive record against Venus Williams, whom she beat 7–6(2), 6–4. By virtue of her defeat over Daniela Hantuchová in the quarterfinals, she will rise into the Top 10 for the first time in her career, the first Italian woman ever to do so. Her run ended against World No. 1 Dinara Safina in the semis 6–2, 6–0.
Pennetta seeded 12th at Toronto but lost to Virginie Razzano in the second round. Her next tournament was New Haven, where she lost in the semis to Caroline Wozniacki. Pennetta started the 2009 US Open with a comprehensive 6–0, 6–4 win over Edina Gallovits. In the second round, she crushed Sania Mirza 6–0, 6–0. She advanced to the fourth round by defeating Aleksandra Wozniak 6–1, 6–1. She played Vera Zvonareva in the fourth round, and saved four match points at her serve at 5–6 in the second set; and then saved another two in the second set tie-break, before she won 3–6, 7–6, 6–0. She was defeated by Serena Williams in the quarterfinals 6–4, 6–3. After the US Open, Pennetta then lost again to Roberta Vinci 6–1, 6–2 in the first round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. At the China Open, Pennetta made the quarter finals losing to Zvonareva 7–5 in the third set. Pennetta, as the top seed at Generali Ladies Linz tournament in Linz, lost in the semi finals to 3rd seed Yanina Wickmayer in straight sets. In the following week, Pennetta was forced to retire at 4–6, 3–0 with a knee injury in the opening round.
Pennetta started 2010 season at the ASB Classic in Auckland as the number one seed where defeating Jill Craybas 6–2 6–4, Carla Suárez Navarro 6–2 6–2, Dominika Cibulková 6–1 6–2 and Francesca Schiavone 6–3 6–0 in the semi finals. She lost to 3rd seed Yanina Wickmayer 3–6 2–6. In the Medibank International she notched up two top 20 wins over Samantha Stosur 6–3 6–1 and Li Na 6–2, 7–6(7–5) before losing 6–3, 6–0 to unseeded Aravane Rezaï in the quarter finals. At the first slam of the year, the Australian Open, Pennetta was the 12th seed. In the opening round she defeated former top 10 player Anna Chakvetadze 6–3, 3–6, 6–2 before falling in the second round to qualifier and world number 16 Yanina Wickmayer 7–6(7–4), 6–1. The loss being her third consecutive straight set loss to Wickmayer. Pennetta was selected for Italy's first tie against Ukraine. She won both her singles matches in straight sets against the Bondarenko sisters to set up a 4–1 away victory in the tie. Pennetta received a wild card into Open GDF Suez in Paris where was the second seed. After receiving a first round bye she defeated Alisa Kleybanova 7–6, 6–1 and Tathiana Garbin to reach the semifinals where she fell in three sets to Lucie Šafářová.
At the Dubai Tennis Championships, Pennetta advanced to the third round, losing to #7 seed Agnieszka Radwańska. Pennetta was forced to withdrew from the Abierto Mexicano Telcel due to a hip injury. Pennetta suffered two early upset defeats at the two premier events BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. After receiving first round byes, Pennetta lost in the third round of Indian Wells to Shahar Pe'er and in the second round of Miami to Andrea Petkovic. Despite her poor singles result in Miami, Pennetta was able to win the doubles title in Miami partnering Gisela Dulko and defeating Samantha Stosur and Nadia Petrova in the final. At the 2010 Andalucia Tennis Experience Pennetta won her first title of the year advancing to the finals without dropping a set and defeating Carla Suárez Navarro 6–2, 4–6, 6–3.
At the 2010 French Open, Pennetta was seeded 14th. She defeated Anne Keothavong, Roberta Vinci, and Polona Hercog in the first three rounds. She was eliminated by #3 seed Caroline Wozniacki in the round of 16. However, her performance moved her ranking back into the top ten, matching her career-high of world #10. This, in combination with countrywoman Francesca Schiavone winning the French Open, meant that on the week of June 7, 2010, two Italian woman were in the top 10 (Schiavone at world #6) at the same time, a feat never before accomplished. Pennetta was seeded 10th at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships. She advanced to the third round where she fell to Klára Zakopalová. She was seeded 5th at the 2010 Mercury Insurance Open in San Diego. In the quarterfinals she defeated Sam Stosur to advance to the semifinals, where she fell to Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Pennetta began her year at the 2011 Medibank International Sydney, where in her first match she defeated qualifier Lucie Hradecká 6–4 6–3. In the second round, Flavia went on to defeat world number 2 Vera Zvonareva in a tough match 7–5 7–5. She went on to lose to Bojana Jovanovski in the quarterfinals.
At the 2011 Australian Open, Pennetta won her first round match against Anastasia Rodionova 6–2 6–1. In her second round match, she successfully defeated Lourdes Domínguez Lino 6–2 6–2. In her third round match, Pennetta came up victorious against Shahar Pe'er in a three-set battle 3–6 7–6 6–4, in which she rallied from deficits several times throughout the match. She lost to Czech player Petra Kvitová 6–3 3–6 3–6 in the fourth round. She did, however, capture her first career Grand Slam doubles title in the Doubles competition, again partnering Dulko and beating Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko in the final. In Fed Cup, she helped two-time reigning champion Italy defeat Australia with wins in two singles rubbers over Samantha Stosur and Jarmila Groth. She is currently on a ten-match singles winning streak in Fed Cup, dropping only one set in that span and has clinched four of Italy's last five ties. She has not lost in Fed Cup competition since 2009 against Svetlana Kuznetsova, and has compiled a stellar 20–4 overall singles record. At the Dubai Tennis Championships, Pennetta was 11th seeded. In the first round she defeated wildcard-receiver Jelena Dokić, 6–2, 6–2. She succeeded to the semifinal after defeating Klára Zakopalová, Victoria Azarenka and Alisa Kleybanova respectively. However, there she was defeated by Svetlana Kuznetsova, 4–6, 4–6.
On 28 February, Pennetta became the first-ever Italian tennis player (male or female) to be ranked World No. 1 in doubles.
Personal life:
Flavia Pennetta was born on 25 February 1982 in Brindisi, to Oronzo and Concetta Pennetta. She has an older sister, Giorgia. Pennetta is the former girlfriend of Carlos Moyá, with whom she split up 2007 Wimbledon Championships.
Pennetta has stated that her most memorable experience was a "vacation with fellow Italians Tathiana Garbin and Rita Grande". She was introduced to tennis at age five, and has cited Monica Seles as her tennis idol.
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