This year’s US Open have seen the Italian women swinging their way deep into the draw, and two were represented in the semifinals. First up was Flavia Pennetta, who faced the #2 seed Simona Halep of Romania. Pennetta, who has been steady and consistent throughout the tournament, further distinguished herself here this year by also taking chances on her big forehand, and perhaps more importantly, playing with heart. The task before her was quite immense, and with an additional $800,000 US dollar prize money incentive to make it to the finals, the pressure was staggering. As it turned out however, Halep was the one who succumbed to the pressure. In a fairly quick straight sets match, the Italian veteran became the oldest first time Grand Slam Finalist in the Open era.
The highly anticipated match began fairly routine enough with both women holding serve, which is often not the case with the WTA. In the 3rd game Halep earned the first break opportunity, but squandered it to keep the match on serve. Immediately in the next game, however, she faced 2 break points on her serve, and the first of many groundstroke errors gave Pennetta the break to 3-1. With the momentum behind her, the Italian continued to play well, staying consistent but going for the big forehand into the open court when warranted. This combined with Halep committing more errors on her groundstrokes, Pennetta was able to race to a 5-1 lead. The pressure looked increasingly evident on the younger player, who was playing in her first US Open semifinal. She had previously made the 4th round 2 year prior. By the 30 minute mark, Pennetta was able to serve out the set 6-1.
In her effort to regroup, the 23 year old Romanian took a break before the 2nd set. Unfortunately for her, the dismal shotmaking continued its trend. Despite breaking first to finally take the lead 3-1, Pennetta remained calm and steady, and broke right back. Between the two, the veteran definitely hit bigger on the forehand side, whereas her younger opponent struggled to just keep hers in play! Just like that, Pennetta held to level the set 3-3. Here was the moment of truth for Halep. The gameplan to surmount a comeback was simple enough: cut down on the unforced errors. As the cookie tends to crumble, so did her game today, and she gifted yet another game to the lower seed. On her side of the net, Pennetta seemed not to take notice at all as she marched on, racing through her service game for 5-3. She then wrote a new chapter in tennis history by hitting a forehand past Halep on the 2nd match point chance. Although Halep did not play well, it was still a convincing win for Pennetta, who shall face her own partner from the 1999 French Open Girls Doubles tournament in the women’s final.
