Flavia Pennetta overcame the No. 2 seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, 6-2, 6-1 in the final of the BNP Paribas Open in the California desert. This is the biggest tournament win by the 32-year-old Italian, who is coming back after wrist surgery in 2012.
Pennetta broke at 1-1 to take the lead in the first set, but it soon became apparent that Radwanska was compromised. She took a medical timeout for a nagging knee injury, and never could get back into the match. At times, she couldn’t move to the ball at all, though she hung in to the end. She choked back tears in her speech.
The first Italian women ever to reach the Top 10 in 2009, Pennetta was ranked No. 21 coming into the match, and will be No. 12 when the new rankings come out tomorrow.
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Cover Photo (Creative Commons License): Marianne Bevis