Flavia Pennetta

Who is Flavia Pennetta?

Flavia Pennetta is an Italian professional tennis player. She became Italy's first top 10 female singles player on 17 August 2009 and also the first ever Italian Tennis player to be ranked No. 1 in Doubles on 28 February 2011. As of 05 September 2013, Pennetta is ranked World No. 83 in singles and, as of 26 August 2013, World No. 55 in doubles.

Pennetta has won nine career WTA singles titles, including back-to-back titles in Bogotá and Acapulco in 2005. She and her Italian teammates Mara Santangelo, Francesca Schiavone, and Roberta Vinci beat the Belgium team 3–2 in the 2006 Fed Cup final. Justine Henin had to retire in the fifth and final match due to an injury in her right knee, which let Italy win their first Fed Cup trophy. She was also a member of their winning team in 2009 and 2010, when they beat the United States on both occasions.

Pennetta has defeated multiple Grand Slam singles champions such as Justine Henin, Mary Pierce, Martina Hingis, Amélie Mauresmo, Venus Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Victoria Azarenka, Samantha Stosur and Maria Sharapova. Pennetta is also one of only seven women to beat Venus Williams three consecutive times. In doubles, Pennetta won her first Grand Slam title at the 2011 Australian Open with partner Gisela Dulko, and also reached the 2005 US Open final partnered with Elena Dementieva. She reached the US Open semi-finals in 2013, her first Grand Slam singles semifinals appearance of her career at the age of 31 and whilst ranked 83rd in the world.