Flavia Pennetta modeling Pin-Up Stars bikinis in Milan

Flavia Pennetta modeling in Milan

Let’s put Justine Henins’s comeback aside for a moment, and shift our attention to a piece of off-court news.

Italian No.1 Flavia Pennetta hit a runway in Milan to present creations from Pin-Up Stars' Spring/Summer 2010 women's collection.

Flavia Pennetta modeling in Milan

The world No.10 Flavia certainly deserves more exposure. (via HCFoo's Tennis Blog)

Flavia Pennetta, Caroline Wozniacki play "Football Tennis"

Flavia Pennetta, Caroline Wozniacki play

Flavia Pennetta and Caroline Wozniacki, who seems to be the most popular player for the Sony Ericsson stunts, kick started the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament by playing tennis on a historic American football stadium.

The largest tennis court in the world was laid out inside the Yale Bowl and Wozniacki and Pennetta ran tennis balls down the football field.

"If only all tennis courts were as large as the one at Yale Bowl today, then all of our balls will be sure to go in," said the world No.9 Wozniacki after the extraordinary match.

This is the third stunt created by Sony Ericsson this summer. Last week Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki stopped traffic to play in one Toronto street, while Kim Clijsters and Elena Dementieva played in the middle of a fountain. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Dinara Safina ends Flavia Pennetta’s winning streak to reach Cincinnati finals

Flavia Pennetta congratulates Dinara Safina after their semifinal match of the Western & Southern Financial Group WomenWorld No.1 Dinara Safina of Russia ended Flavia Pennetta’s 15-match winning streak in just 56 minutes, defeating the Italian 6-2 6-0 in the semifinals of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women’s Open.

Pennetta, who will on Monday become the first Italian Top 10 women's tennis player, looked a little bit worn-out playing against Safina who was on fire, hitting winner after winner. Safina retained her perfect record against Pennetta, having won all their seven meetings.

In her eighth final of the 2009 season Safina will face the winner of the semifinal between fourth seed Elena Dementieva and fifth seed Jelena Jankovic. (photo: Life.com)

Flavia Pennetta to crack Top 10, expects Italy to go crazy about it

Flavia PennettaFlavia Pennetta will enter the Top 10 for the first time when the new Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings are released on Monday, and will become the first Italian tennis player to achieve the feat.

The 27-year-old Pennetta is expecting a "crazy" reaction in her native Italy when she returns home next month.

"It's a dream come true," said Pennetta, currently ranked 12th, while her career-high has been No.11 so far. "I always hoped to be one of the best players in the world and now I'm there so it's crazy."

"I have only spoken with my mum so far. I've already received I don't know how many SMS's so I think it's going to be crazy," Pennetta added.

Pennetta is now on a 15-match winning streak, having won back-to-back tournaments in Palermo and Los Angeles and then having reached the semifinals in Cincinnati (where she'll face top-ranked Dinara Safina). (source: Reuters, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Clijsters makes Kuznetsova her third Top 20 victim, Venus Williams upset in Cincinnati

Kim Clijsters at the Western & Southern Financial Group WomenWildcard Kim Clijsters is still doing impressively well in her comeback after a two-year-long break and a child birth, scoring her third Top 20 victory in three matches she played since returning to competitive tennis at the Western and Southern Financial Group Women's Open. Third seed Venus Williams fell to No.14 seed Flavia Pennetta in the third round.

Clijsters started her third-round match with a 4-1 lead, and even though sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova leveled at 4-4, the Belgian won the set 6-4. We can safely say that Kuznetsova was saved by the challenge system in the second set. Clijsters was leading 3-0, and then 4-3, and just when we thought she broke Kuznetsova for 5-3, the Hawk-eye system said Kuznetsova's ball was in and in the end she leveled at 4-4 to eventually win the set. Still, Clijsters triumphed in the decider to defeat the sixth-ranked Russian, after victories over No.13 Marion Bartoli and No.20 Patty Schnyder.

No.14 seed Pennetta defeated third seed Venus Williams 7-6(2) 6-4 and extended her winning streak to 14 matches. The Italian won back-to-back titles in Palermo and Los Angeles, and has now reached the quarterfinals of Cincinnati.

Clijsters might face world No.1 Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals, while Pennetta, who is now 4-3 against Williams, will next play Daniela Hantuchova, the winner over seventh seed Vera Zvonareva in the third round.

Additional info:
The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour made this nice video clip dedicated to Kim Clijsters’ comeback.

(photo via Life.com)


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