Pennetta and Dulko confront the Cinderellas Zvonareva and Vesnina
Italian Flavia Pennetta was eliminated out of the Ladies’ Singles tournament, and she was recently eliminated out of the Wimbledon Ladies’ Doubles semi-finals. The Italian gained access into the Doubles semi-finals by defeating, with her Argentinean partner Gisela Dulko, Julia Goerges and Agnes Szavay in two straight sets: 6-2, 6-2. The Argentinean-Italian team then faced the Doubles team nicknamed the “Cinderellas” of tennis by the media due to their recent victory over the Williams sisters. Kicking both Venus and Serena out of this tournament was a task that Elena Vesnina accomplished with Vera Zvonareva. Unfortunately for the Dulko and Pennetta, they were defeated 6-3, 6-1 by the “Cinderellas.”
Zvonareva faced Pennetta in the U.S. Open last year, which was considered as a brutal defeat for the 25 year-old Russian. Zvonareva had lost control of her emotions during the match: screaming, swearing, sobbing, and tearing at the tape around her knees on the court.
Pennetta was Italy’s first top ten players in August 2009 and was ranked World No. 11 in singles and No. 10 in doubles in June 2010. She has also upset many singles Grand Slam champions on the court, defeating Justine Henin, Mary Pierce, Martina Hingis, Francesca Schiavone, Amélie Mauresmo, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, and former World No. 1 Jelena Janković. She has also defeated Williams three consecutive times—an achievement shared only by six other women in the world.
Pennetta was dubbed “Knight of Order of Merit of the Republic” on January 24, 2007 by the president of Italy. The Italian star was seeded 14th at the 2010 French Open, during which time she defeated Anne Keothavong, Roberta Vinci, and Polona Hercog in the first three rounds. She unfortunately lost against 3rd seed Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round.
In 2010, Pennetta’s performance ranked her in the top ten just as Francesca Schiavone won the French Open, and during the first week of June 2010 two Italian women were in the top ten at the same time—an unprecedented event.
This year has been busy for Pennetta’s partner Dulko, who started the year at the 2010 Moorilla Hobart International, at which she reached the quarter-finals before losing to Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1 5-7 6-1. Dulko then entered the 2010 Australian Open, where she surprised everyone with her victory over Ana Ivanović in the second round. Dulko was then in the 2010 Copa BBVA-Colsanitas as top seed where she easily performed in its semi-finals with straight sets victory before losing to Angelique Kerber, who won 7-5 6-3.
Pennetta was then seeded 31st at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells and received a bye in the first round. Dulko then had her most important victory of her career when she defeated former World No.1 Justine Henin in about 2 hours. She also caused the first upset at the 2010 French Open by crushing World No. 10 Victoria Azarenka in two straight sets: 6-1, 6-2.
Pennetta was unseeded at the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open where she reached the third round, defeating Olga Govortsova 6-4, 6-1 and 21st seed Alyona Bondarenko 7-5, 6-2 on her way. Unfortunately, the young Argentinean had to withdraw from her first clay event in Spain due to an upper respiratory tract infection.
The Italian and Argentinean Pennetta-Dulko team, however, could not use their skills and expertise in their sport to win against the young Russians for a place in the Doubles’ final. The “Cinderellas” are now set to face Yania King and Yaroslava Shvedova in the final on Saturday.
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