Flavia Pennetta, a recap of her performances this year
Born on 25 February 1982 in the city of Brindisi, Flavia Pennetta is a professional tennis player from Italy. The twenty-eight year old Italian became the first female top ten player from her country back in 2009 during the month of August. The Italian is currently ranked number twenty in the world by WTA.
As far as her current performances are concerned, Flavia started her year at the ASB Classic tennis tournament held in Auckland as the top seeded player. She made her way into the semi final of the competition after defeating Jill Craybas, Carla Suarez Navarro, Dominika Cibulkova as well as Francesca Schiavone. In the semi final battle, Flavia met the third seeded, Yanina Wickmayer, who got the better of her in straight sets. The final match score was 3–6 2–6.
The Verbier resident next played at the Medibank International tennis tournament as her second competition of the season. She ousted two top twenty players, Samantha Stosur in a total of two sets and Li Na in a three-set clash before defeating, Aravane Rezai, an unseeded player, in the quarterfinal round of the competition. The final match score was 6–3, 6–0.
At the first major competition of the season, the hard court Australian Open Championship, Flavia was seeded twelfth. In the first round, she defeated former top ten opponent, Anna Chakvetadze, in a total of three sets. The final match score was 6–3, 3–6, 6–2. The Italian was, however, eliminated in the next round by Yanina Wickmayer in a two setter clash. The final match score was 7–6(7–4), 6–1. The defeat came as her third straight set loss in a row at the hands of Wickmayer.
Flavia next received a wild card into the Open GDF Suez tennis event which was held in Paris. She entered as seeded second to win the title. She was granted a first round bye and thus played her first match of the competition against Alisa Kleybanova and successfully managed to knock her down in straight sets. The final match score was 7–6, 6–1. Flavia made her way into the semi final round of the competition after getting the better of Tathiana Garbin where she was eliminated in a total of three sets by Lucie Safarova.
At the Dubai Tennis tournament, Pennetta reached the third round, where she lost to the seventh seeded Agnieszka Radwanska. Pennetta was pushed to skip the Abierto Mexicano Telcel as a result of her hip injury. The Italian suffered two early upset losses at the two premier competitions namely the BNP Paribas Open which was held in Indian Wells this year as well as the Sony Ericsson Open, contested in Miami. She couldn’t pass the third round in Indian Wells where Flavia was dismissed by Shahar Pe'er. On the other hand, Pennetta was knocked down in the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament by Andrea Petkovic.
At the clay court French Open tennis tournament 2010, Flavia was seeded fourteen to win the title. She got the better of Anne Keothavong, Roberta Vinci as well as Polona Hercog in the first three rounds of the competition. However, she was kicked out in the fourth round of the competition by her third seeded opponent Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets. However, her fourth round run improved her ranking back into the top ten of the World.
Pennetta next played at the grass court Grand Slam tournament, Wimbledon, where she was seeded tenth to win the crown. She made her way to the third round of the competition where she was downed by Klara Zakopalova at the All England Club.
Flavia was seeded fifth at the 2010 Mercury Insurance Open tennis tournament in San Diego. She did well to reach the semi final round of the competition where the Italian was ousted by Svetlana Kuznetsova.
As far as the upcoming United States Open tennis tournament is concerned, Flavia Pennetta is hoping to give a tough time to her opponents at Flushing Meadows in New York.
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