Flavia Pennetta reigns in New York, becoming the oldest woman to win her maiden grand slam title. The 33-year-old Italian defeated her countrywoman Roberta Vinci in straight sets 7-6(4), 6-2.
With nothing to choose between these two in the finals as both of them came in with a sublime form, it was Pennetta who was aggressive right from the start of the match. It was always going to be a tricky match as both the players should be in good physical shape as they played their finals without getting a day off.
Both the players stayed competitive in the opening set dictating play on their service games. Vinci who changed her pace with her slice on the backhand wing against Serena Williams tried the same tactics against Pennetta as well. As both the players knew their game well, Vinci’s slice didn’t trouble Pennetta as much and Pennetta was patient enough to put the ball on the court. The 26 seed played even more impressive in the second set getting a quick 4-0 lead and gave absolutely nothing to Vinci. Vinci, however, tried her best to stay in the rally, but Pennetta’s powerful groundstrokes were troubling Vinci big time. Pennetta eased through in the second set and registered a 7-6, 6-2 victory over Vinci.
Pennetta fired down 4 aces and maintained 64% of the first serve in. Pennetta’s approach at the net was very successful as she won 16 of the 20 points. The 33-year-old converted 4 of her 11 break points which were good enough to seal the title. Vinci had her struggles in breaking Pennetta’s serve and converted 2 out of her 4 break points.
Match Statistics:
|
R. Vinci |
|
F. Pennetta |
|
0 |
Aces |
1 |
|
1 |
Double faults |
1 |
|
64% |
First serve in |
64% |
|
15/30 |
Net points won |
16/20 |
|
2/4 |
Break points won |
4/11 |
|
21 |
Winners |
28 |
|
30 |
Unforced errors |
22 |
“With this winning today, my life is perfect,” Pennetta said.
“To play like this and finish like this, it’s amazing. I’m so happy and so proud of myself. I couldn’t finish in a better way.
“If I have to dream about how I want to stop playing, this is the perfect way.”
With the decision made last month at Toronto, Pennetta was more relaxed as she played her final Grand Slam event.
“Maybe that’s why I’m here today (as champion),” she said. “It takes a lot of pressure out. I was trying to play every match like it was my last one.”
However, Pennetta cleared her statement about retirement and said that saying she will play to the end of the year, including events at Wuhan and Beijing and the WTA Finals in Singapore if she qualifies.
But Pennetta has no plans to defend her crown or consider the 2016 Olympics because she says the time to leave is now.
“Sometimes it’s getting hard for me to compete,” Pennetta said. “If you don’t fight every week, in the same way, I did today, it’s going to be like bad. And I don’t feel I have this power anymore. So this is the perfect moment.
“Was a really hard decision to make, but I’m really happy that I did it.”
Pennetta only told her teen roommate and surrogate sister, Vinci, she would retire just before the awards ceremony.
“It’s so magical because you have one of your best friends with you at this moment,” Pennetta said. “She was unbelievable.”
Pennetta’s decision to retire came at a tuneup event last month in Canada.
“I have to say, Toronto was the moment where I really say, ‘It’s the time,’,” she said. “For me, sometimes, it’s getting hard to compete.”
Even if she lost on Saturday, Pennetta had decided she was done at season’s end.
“Winning or lose today, nothing was going to change. The decision was already there,” she said.
Retirement did not nag at Pennetta’s mind as she went through her matches.
“Sometimes it was getting in my mind, but I didn’t think too much about that,” she said. “I was just focused on my game. Just play tennis. That was my goal.”
Now Pennetta, whose boyfriend is Italian ATP player Fabio Fognini, faces the unknown and strange world of life after tennis.
“I don’t know what I like to do, so I have to discover everything,” she said. “It’s a new life for me.
“Sometimes we are more scared to take the decision because we don’t know what we like or what we’re going to do after, how is going to be the life.
“But I think it’s going to be a pretty good life. I did everything that I expected.
“And more. Much more.”