Flavia Pennetta beat fellow Italian Roberta Vinci to win her first Grand Slam title at the US Open, and then announced her retirement.
Pennetta, the 26th seed, won 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 to become only the second Italian woman to win one of the tennis majors.
Vinci, ranked 43rd, had stunned Serena Williams in the semi-finals, ending the world number one's bid to win a calendar Grand Slam.
Pennetta then said: "This is the way I like to say goodbye to tennis."
The 33-year-old from Brindisi, who would rise to number eight in the world rankings, collected a winner's cheque of $3,300,000 (£2,139,000).