Tennis: Flavia Pennetta wins US Open

The hordes who had bought tickets for Flushing Meadows expecting to see Serena Williams in the US Open final got a different type of history to what they were expecting. Instead of watching the 33-year-old American carry off the calendar Grand Slam they saw a 33-year-old Italian become the oldest woman to win her first Major tennis championship.

The Billie Jean King Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows, home of the US Open

World No 26 Flavia Pennetta claimed her first, and last, of the big four titles in tennis when she saw off Serena Williams' conqueror, fellow Italian Roberta Vinci. Another surprise came after that when she announced her retirement, having been presented with the trophy.

Flavia Pennetta at the 2014 Internazionali BNL d'Italia aka the Rome Masters

Said the victorious Pennetta,

“This is how I would like to say goodbye to tennis. I took a big decision before coming here. It's a dream come true.”

Roberta Vinci at the 2014 China Open

Serena Williams' attempt to become only the fourth woman to win a calendar-year Grand Slam ended in extraordinary fashion at the US Open. In one of the greatest shocks in the sport’s history, the world No 1 was beaten by Roberta Vinci, the world No 43, who had failed to take a set off Williams in all four of their previous meetings.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi at the opening of Russia Day at Expo 2015

Against all odds, this resulted in Saturday’s US Open final (12 September) being contested by two Italians, Vinci and Pennetta. Not only was it the women’s very first Grand Slam finals, it was also the first all-Italian Grand Slam final in the history of the US Open. Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi flew in for the day, knowing that he was going to see a winner from his country for the first time.

Serena Williams at the 2014 US Open

(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)