Flavia Pennetta defeated her Italian countrywoman Roberta Vinci, 7-6 (4), 6-2, at the United States Open on Saturday to win her first Grand Slam singles title.
On Friday in the semifinals, Vinci defeated top-seeded Serena Williams, who was trying to become the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in the same year. Pennetta scored a major upset of her own on Friday by defeating Simona Helap, the No. 2 seed, in straight sets.
Pennetta achieved several milestones of her own in the first all-Italian Grand Slam final in the Open era.