Feisty Italian Flavia Pennetta has enjoyed a stellar streak of hot form since Wimbledon, and has established herself as the dark horse of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour with her accomplishments.
Prodigious youngsters like Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka and Sabine Lisicki are lauded as possible successors to the WTA throne, but instead could it be Pennetta who proves to be the next great champion of women’s tennis?
Hailing from Brindisi, a small coastal town within the region of Apulia in Italy, the brunette bombshell has been a staple figure on the WTA Tour for several years. Historically, she has performed exceptionally well in clay court events, having won six of them on the tricky red dirt. Last year she shone with multiple breakthrough achievements, which included her 5th and 6th career titles at Vina Del Mar and Acapulco respectively, and runner-up showings at notable hardcourt events in Los Angeles and Zurich.
Her achievements in 2008 didn‘t stop there. She gained an edge in a rivalry with Venus Williams, toppling the American legend twice on two different surfaces. She also reached her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal at the US Open. En route to that milestone, Pennetta eclipsed former world number one Amelie Mauresmo with the loss of just three games. Eventually, she was denied a semi-final berth by Safina, who outclassed the Italian in straight-sets.
Fast forward to 2009, and Flavia Pennetta is continuing to blossom beyond modest expectation.
She began to hit her straps this year in July when she tasted championship success at Palermo. In that event, she easily outmuscled compatriot and rising star Sara Errani in the final. Her breakthrough title triumph came just weeks later at Los Angeles however, when she dispatched the more fancied Russian trio of Nadia Petrova, Vera Zvonareva and three-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova in a magical run to the final. Once there, she wasted no time with a straight-sets routing of Aussie Samantha Stosur.
Her lethal display of all-court finesse and precision shot-making sent a dire warning to her rivals.
In her next tour stop in Cincinnati, Pennetta continued her winning ways with her fourth career win over Venus Williams. She also scored wins over Agnes Szavay and Slovak veteran Daniela Hantuchova, lengthening her fearsome win streak to 15 matches. A swathe of tour matches finally took its toll on her fatigued body, as nemesis Dinara Safina extinguished her brightly burning flame in the semi-finals.
Flavia also enjoyed an impressive run to the semi-finals of New Haven, securing 2nd place in the Olympus US Open Series overall.
Now the first Italian woman ever to be ranked inside the top ten, the 27-year-old beauty is knocking down the door to tennis superstardom. Despite standing at just under 5’8, Pennetta packs a powerful punch on her groundstrokes, and incorporates enough variety in her game to trouble the current crop of top-tier champions.
Belgian megastar Kim Clijsters hasn’t quite found her rhythm since her celebrated return, Sharapova is still wrestling with her new service motion, and a whole host of arguable future superstars are still developing. There is certainly room for another queen of the courts to join the superb Williams sisters and Dinara Safina, and Pennetta could be in pole position to challenge them for the Flushing Meadows flag.
Robert Edward Smith is a freelance writer from Melbourne, Australia.
On the Baseline’s live coverage of the 2009 US Open is brought to you by Grand Slam Tennis Tours.
That was a nice article. I’d love to see Flavs win the whole thing. Forza! But TBH, I doubt it.