Flavia Pennetta edges Petra Kvitova 4-6 6-4 6-2 to become the first Italian ever to reach the semifinal of the US Open twice.
The histories of Flavia Pennetta and Petra Kvitova at the US Open, and on American hardcourts in general, could not be more different. In these past few years, Flavia Pennetta has been one of the most consistent players in New York, reaching the quarterfinals in six of her last seven appearances in the tournament, with her best result being the semifinal lost against Azarenka two years ago. The United States is where Flavia always gave her very best, collecting ten top 10 wins and her two most important titles, Los Angeles and Indian Wells. Her clean, flat groundstrokes and her regularity well adapt to those courts, where she manages to find her best game even in those seasons when things don’t go brilliantly for her, like in the current year.
On the other hand, American hardcourts are probably Kvitova’s worse surface: quite amazingly, indeed, this is her first quarterfinal ever at the US Open. The only tournament she has won in the US is New Haven, which she conquered three times. Apart from that, she only got one disappointment after another, especially considering the level of play she’s been able to produce everywhere else in the world, winning Wimbledon twice and reaching the semifinal in the other two Grand Slams. It’s not that her game is not suited for these courts; it is probably more of a psychological block that is preventing her from showing what her real level is at the US Open. Today’s match presented therefore a series of risks for the fifth seed, also by looking at her head-to-head record against Pennetta: they both have three wins each against each other, with the Italian taking the first three encounters and the Czech winning the last three.
As the two players arrive on court the Arthur Ashe stadium looks empty compared to last night. It is still 11:00 a.m. in New York and people like to take their time before reaching Flushing Meadows. Anyway, it’s not early for them as they both start the match determined to take an early lead. It’s Pennetta who goes up a break 1-0, before handing it back the game after. They both seem to hit the ball pretty cleanly, swiping away any possible doubt on their games coming from pressure or tension. Kvitova has a few advantages on her side: she is taller, more powerful, and she’s lefty, and she uses all of these pros in the very first games, hitting slice serves from left to right and accelerating whenever she has the chance to do so.
After the initial hesitations, she takes control of the game, going up a break in the sixth game and consolidating the lead till five-three. There she plays a horrible game when serving for the set, hitting three double faults and letting Pennetta back into play. Down 4-5, Pennetta goes 40-0 on her serve before losing five points in a row, hitting two double faults and receiving three heavy returns from Kvitova, who pumps herself up with some loud grunts in an attempt to keep her tension high.
In the second set things seems to go even smoother for Kvitova, who gets an early break and goes up 3-1. However, from then on Pennetta cuts down her errors and starts playing at a higher level, breaking back her opponent and going to serve for the set up 5-4. She’s forced to save two breakpoints that would give the chance to Kvitova to level up the score, finally managing to take the set six games to four, committing only four unforced errors in the whole set.
In the decider the two players go toe-to-toe till the 2-all. Then it is a one-woman show: Kvitova looks tired and probably restrained by a leg-injury. Pennetta plays flawlessly, committing no mistakes and going on to win the next four games and the match 4-6 6-4 6-2.
She’s now in the semis for the second time in her career; the first Italian to do so at the US Open. It will also be the first time ever, women or men, in which there will be two Italian semifinalists in a Slam at the same time.
