The 27-year-old Italian 10th-seeded Flavia Pennetta moved smartly through the bracket and avoided the sort of inconsistent play that doomed the others. Pennetta was born 25 February 1982 in Brindisi, Puglia.

Penetta has won eight career WTA singles titles, including back-to-back titles in Bogot and Acapulco in 2005. She and her Italian teammates Mara Santangelo, Francesca Schiavone, and Roberta Vinci beat the Belgium team 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.

Penetta has defeated former World No. 1s and multiple Grand Slam singles champions such as Justine Henin at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in 2005, Martina Hingis in Gold Coast, Australia at the beginning of the 2006 tour, Amélie Mauresmo at the 2008 US Open en-route to her first Grand Slam singles quarterfinal, Venus Williams, and former World No. 1 Jelena Jankovic at the 2008 Zürich Open Pennetta is also one of only seven women to beat Williams three consecutive times. In doubles, she reached the 2005 US Open final with her partner Elena Dementieva http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavia_Pennetta

Pennetta last one standing, wins L.A. Women's Tennis Championship final
Los Angeles Daily News; By Elliott Teaford Staff Writer; August 9, 2009 

CARSON - One by one, the top-seeded players tumbled all around Flavia Pennetta at the L.A. Women's Tennis Championships at Home Depot Center. 

Top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Dinara Safina went out in the third round. Second-seeded Vera Zvonareva fell in the quarterfinals. 

Bigger names and brighter stars were sent packing. Ana Ivanovic lost in the third round and Maria Sharapova was ousted in the semifinals. 

The 10th-seeded Pennetta moved smartly through the bracket and avoided the sort of inconsistent play that doomed the others. She completed her steady run with an efficient 6-4, 6-3 victory over No. 13 Samantha Stosur in Sunday afternoon's final. 

"Now I'm feeling tired," the 27-year-old Italian said while breaking into a chuckle. "No, I'm very happy about this tournament, about today, about yesterday, about this whole week. Today was a very good match. 

"We fight a lot, both of us." 

Pennetta's serve lacked the pace of Stosur's and hovered around the 100-mph mark as opposed to the 115-mph speed of her Australian rival. 

Pennetta had four aces to three for Stosur. Pennetta also had only two double faults; Stosur had eight. 

What's more, Pennetta was steadier in her groundstrokes and volleys. She had only 16 unforced errors compared to 32 for Stosur. She hit 18 winners to Stosur's 19. 

All of which added up to perhaps the most significant victory in Pennetta's career, one shaped on Italian clay courts rather than American hardcourts. There was a time not so long ago when she tried to avoid hardcourts all together. 

"I started to play better in hardcourts two years ago," she said. "I just played on clay all the time. My serve is much better now. Also, my forehand has improved. I have more power in the legs now, so everything changed." 

That much was evident as Pennetta appeared fresher and more at ease than Stosur, who fell to 0-5 in finals in her career. Pennetta got the break of serve she needed in the first set, went ahead 4-3 and held on to take the first set. 

In the second set, Pennetta broke serve to go ahead 2-1. Stosur broke back to make it 3-all, but Pennetta broke again and held serve for a 5-3 lead. She broke Stosur again and thrust her arms skyward after hitting a forehand winner on match point. 

On her way to the title, Pennetta defeated Varvara Lepchenko in the first round, CoCo Vandeweghe in the second, Nadia Petrova in the third, Zvonareva in the quarterfinals and Sharapova in the semifinals. 

Pennetta reached the final in Carson for the second consecutive year. Last time, she lost to Safina, 6-4, 6-2. This time, she took the extra step and won her second title in as many months. She also won at Palermo in July. 

Pennetta also will vault from No. 14 in the world to No. 12 when the new rankings are released today. That's one spot away from the highest ranking of her career. 

No Italian woman ever has been ranked in the top 10, something Pennetta hopes to change sooner rather than later. 

"Women's tennis in Italy has improved the last few years, not like soccer, because in Europe they talk about soccer all the time, but it is important now," she said. "To be in the top 10 is going to be very important in Italy." ..... 

http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_13028592

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[Formerly Italy at St Louis]