Jelena Jankovic stopped by Flavia Pennetta at Porsche Tennis Grand Prix

Flavia PennettaDefending champion Jelena Jankovic will not add the white Porsche to her car collection, as she was beaten in the quarterfinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix by Flavia Pennetta.

I have to say it’s a pity we won’t see Jelena’s proud photos next to this luxurious car. Remember those with the red Porsche she won last year in Stuttgart?

The world No.14 Pennetta won the quarterfinal 2-6 6-4 6-4. Jankovic managed to come back from 2-0 down in the third set, and had her chance to end it as a victor, but dropped her serve in the seventh game once again. Pennetta then kept the lead and entered the semifinals on the first match point.

Pennetta will next face the winner of the match between world No.1 Dinara Safina and Agnieszka Radwanska. Second seed Elena Dementieva and fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova are the other semifinal pair. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Venus Williams cruises past Flavia Pennetta to win Acapulco title

Venus Willliams holding Acapulco trophyVenus Williams followed up last week's win in Dubai with a 6-1 6-2 defeat of Flavia Pennetta in the final of Abierto Mexicano TELCEL presentado por HSBC.

Williams has won four of her last five tournaments and 20 of her last 21 matches. She won titles late in 2008 at Zurich and the Sony Ericsson Championships, plus Dubai and now Acapulco this year.  A second round loss to Carla Suarez Navarro at the Australian Open is that one loss Williams had.

Williams, the top seed, was serving amazing during the final. She lost just 13 points in her eight service games, five of those coming from double faults. Williams was great on the return too, breaking Pennetta four times, and finishing the final in only an hour and two minutes.

"What happened to me? Venus Williams is what happened to me. The No.5 player in the world is what happened to me!" joked the second-seeded Italian, who was playing her sixth straight Acapulco final. "She was just playing so strong, serving so well, it was hard to fight against her power. I didn’t feel I played badly, she just overpowered me." (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo via Yahoo)

Flavia Pennetta upset, no seeds left in Hobart

Flavia PennettaTop seed Flavia Pennetta was defeated in the second round of the Moorilla Hobart International, along with fourth seed Zheng Jie and seventh seed Alona Bondarenko, which leaves the tournament’s quarterfinals without seeded players.

The world No.13 Pennetta was upset by No.57-ranked Magdalena Rybarikova 7-5 6-3, who scored her first Top 20 win.

Earlier in the day, the Chinese No.1 Zheng lost to Gisela Dulko 6-3 6-3, while the Ukrainian No.1 Bondarenko lost to Petra Kvitova 6-2 6-1.

Other seeds at the Moorilla Hobart International were all defeated in the first round already, and they were No.2 seed Patty Schnyder, No.3 seed Anna Chakvetadze, No.5 seed Agnes Szavay, No.6 seed Aleksandra Wozniak and No.8 seed Tamarine Tanasugarn. (photo by Dima Korotayev/Epsilon/Getty Images via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Venus Williams beats Flavia Pennetta for Zurich Open crown

Venus Williams wins Tennis.com Zurich Open trophyThird seed Venus Williams defeated Italian Flavia Pennetta 7-6(1) 6-2 in the final of the $600,000 Tennis.com Zurich Open to claim her second singles title of the year and 38th career title.

The 2008 Wimbledon champion also won the Zurich title in 1999, while still a teenager.

The Tennis.com Zurich Open final was the first in four times that Venus Williams defeated Flavia Pennetta. The Italian, however, still leads their head-to-head series 3-2. Pennetta, who is expected to rise to a new career-high ranking of 14, was trying to become only the third player to beat Williams for a fourth straight match, after conquering her in Bangkok in 2007, then at Roland Garros and Moscow this year.

With the victory in her 60th career final Williams is expected to qualify for the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha.

On her way to the Tennis.com Zurich Open title Venus Williams defeated Alona Bondarenko, Francesca Schiavone, second seed Ana Ivanovic, and finally Flavia Pennetta, who upset world No.1 Jelena Jankovic in the second round. (photo via Yahoo)

Flavia Pennetta reaches Zurich Open final

Flavia PennettaItalian Flavia Pennetta defeated Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3 7-6(6) to advance to the final of the Tennis.com Zurich Open.

The world No.17 Pennetta came from 3-1 behind in both sets. In the second set Medina Garrigues couldn’t serve out the set after breaking for a 6-5 lead, and forced a tiebreaker. Pennetta had saved one set point in the second set, before converting her first match point.

The 25-year-old Pennetta, who upset top-ranked Jelena Jankovic in the second round, reached her fourth final of the year. In 2008 the Italian has won two titles: Vina Del Mar and Acapulco.

In the Tennis.com Zurich Open final Pennetta will play either third seed Venus Williams or seed No.2 Ana Ivanovic. (via iht, photo: Getty Images)

Pennetta ends Jankovic’s winning streak

Jelena JankovicTop seed Jelena Jankovic fell 5-7 6-3 6-3 to world No.17 Flavia Pennetta in the second round of the Tennis.com Zurich Open and lost her first in 13 matches.

Pennetta has never before beaten Jankovic, and they had played five times before this Zurich meeting. Additionally, the 26-year-old Italian today defeated a number one player in the world for the first time.

Jankovic, who won three straight titles heading into the Tennis.com Zurich Open, beat Pennetta in straight sets last week at the Kremlin Cup after the Italian had knocked out Venus Williams.

The Serb has never made it past the second round at the Zurich Open in four tournament appearances. (photo: Getty Images)

Venus Williams upset by Flavia Pennetta in Kremlin Cup first round

Venus WilliamsSixth seed Venus Williams lost 6-4 2-6 6-4 to Italy’s Flavia Pennetta in the opening round of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.

Pennetta and Williams exhanged breaks in the first set. The world No.18 Pennetta broke decisively on her third chance in the ninth game. Williams broke twice in the second set, but dropped serve in the first game of the third set and never recovered.

With the victory at the Kremlin Cup Pennetta has improved her record against Williams to 3-1.

The top four seeds, Jelena Jankovic, Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva and Ana Ivanovic, have byes into the second round. (source: AP, photo: Getty Images)

Dinara Safina defeats Flavia Pennetta, cruises into US Open semifinals

Dinara SafinaSixth seed Dinara Safina advanced to the US Open semifinals with an easy 6-2 6-3 win over 16th seed Flavia Pennetta.

Safina earned a service break in the second game and later broke serve again to close out the first set. In the second, Pennetta broke at love to go up 2-1, but Safina broke right back, and then again for a 4-2 lead. The Russian cruised the rest of the way.

The 22-year-old Safina will play one of the Williams sisters in the semis.

On day eight of the US Open Safina said: "Sometimes, wherever I am, I feel like I have already been there for a year." Hopefully she has overcome that feeling, she will need to be fully rested to overcome her next opponent.

BTW: I really like this quote of Pennetta:

Can you just talk a little bit about your decision this year to really make a big push and to commit to your tennis?

"What decision? I just work a lot. It's not a big decision." We can all learn from this! (source: The New York Times, photo: safina-dinara.com)

Flavia Pennetta beats Amelie Mauresmo to reach US Open quarterfinals

Flavia PennettaNumber 16 seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy eased through to a matchup with Russian sixth seed Dinara Safina with a 6-3 6-0 victory over Amelie Mauresmo in the fourth round of the US Open.

Former world number one Mauresmo was struggling to find form for a long time, but has recently shown signs of getting back on track. In the match against Pennetta, however, Mauresmo produced 14 doubles and 40 unforced errors, and eased the Italian’s way into her first Grand Slam quarterfinals.

Safina and Pennetta have played each other four times, and all the encounters were won by the Russian. (source: Reuters, photo: Getty Images)

Flavia Pennetta defeats Chan Yung-jan for PTT Bangkok Open title

Flavia Pennetta defeats Chan Yung-jan for PTT Bangkok Open titleIn-form Italian Flavia Pennetta outclassed Taiwanese teenager Chan Yung-jan 6-1 6-3 to win the PTT Bangkok Open on Sunday. The victory at the Tier III tournament in Thailand is the third tour title of the 49th-ranked Italian.

Seventh-seeded Pennetta, who beat Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in the semifinals, dominated in the final interrupted by four hours of rain.

"She played well, didn't make mistakes and deserved to win," said Chan Yung-jan, who was playing in her first WTA final. (source: Sports Illustrated, photo via Yahoo)


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