US OPEN – It has been coined the improbable final as no one saw either Flavia Pennetta (26) and the unseeded Roberta Vinci in the finals or anywhere close to it. However, both players came through the 6 previous rounds to create history of the first ever all-Italian major final. Pennetta, the more accomplished singles player took this grand stage to put on a once in a lifetime dream performance. She took the match 7-6(4) 6-2 in an hour and 33 minutes to not only rise to the top of the tennis world right now but to go out with a bang. After capturing her first major title, the 33-year-old Italian let the world know that she would soon be retiring from the professional world of tennis. Vinci, on the other hand, is still simply overjoyed at her run at this major.
In the opening games of the match, it looked as though Pennetta was dealing with the nerves of her first major final. Vinci looked comfortable after all, she took out the world’s number one in the semifinals. However, despite the nervy start, Pennetta was the one who broke first for 3-2. Vinci was having trouble holding serve in that 5th game giving Pennetta many looks at break points before one was finally converted. Pennetta consolidated the break for 4-2 but Vinci came on strong in the next few games to level the set at 4-4 and then serve strong to go up 5-4 to force Pennetta to serve to stay in the set. Pennetta sorted out her game to get back into the match and the opening set was forced into a decisive tiebreaker at 6 games all.
The winner of this breaker was vital as the winner of most of their encounters has always been decided by the one to took the opening set. Pennetta, the more experienced player in the big moments, took a 4-2 points lead. Vinci’s shots were unreliable and she rarely put Pennetta under pressure. Pennetta got up to 5-3 and then led 6-4 off another Vinci error. Now on serve, Pennetta hit a searing serve out wide which proved unreturnable for Vinci and Pennetta took the set 7-4 in the breaker, in exactly an hour.
After the match, Vinci would say that she was a bit exhausted in the first set after that massive upset over Serena Williams in the semifinals. She would add that it was a tough match facing Pennetta. The toll of the last 24 hours clearly showed in Vinci’s game in the 2nd set as she soon found herself down a double break. Vinci was able to break Pennetta for 1-4 and reduced the deficit to 2-4. Pennetta extended the lead to 5-2 and forced Vinci to serve to stay in the match. With the grey clouds circling, Vinci sensed the end was near and her game completely unraveled. She played a poor final game to be broken at love giving Pennetta the maiden major win, 7-6(4) 6-2 in an hour and half.
In the post match interview, Pennetta’s joy was unbridled. She was beaming with joy and Vinci was beyond ecstatic for her childhood friend and professional colleague biggest win in her career. This was a major moment for both players as they had never made it this far in a major in their entire professional singles career. The match statistics do not tell much of the match although Pennetta had the better numbers with 28 winners to 22 errors compared to Vinci’s 21 winners and 30 errors. Vinci would say, “I think she played better. She was more solid than me and she play much better backhand, long line, and she served better than me today.” However, the real difference in the match was that Pennetta seized the moment. She relaxed into the match and played her brand of tennis. Vinci was never really allowed to settle on this big stage. Pennetta will now play out the rest of the year and retire on a high note with her lone major title. She said that her biggest dream prior to this tournament was to win the Rome clay court title. However, winning the US Open, the last major of the year in 2015 has surpassed even her wildest expectations.
