Flavia Pennetta hasnt really had the best 2011, but she has still decided to release her new autobiography Dritto al Cuore (Straight to the Heart) anyways. Pennetta talked about her bust up with longtime boyfriend Carlos Moya, whom she thought she was going to marry, but found out about his affair with Spanish TV presenter Carolina Cerezuela (who is now the mother of Moya’s child).
Earlier this month, Venus and Serena Williams took part in an exhibition in Milan. They were playing against the two top players from Italy, Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta.
Everything was going smoothly at the event, but something eventually happened during Venus’s match with Pennetta. It was a point like any other and Venus was stretching out wide to get to the ball. However, as she was returning to the ready position, her dress strap just snapped causing her to almost have a “Janet Jackson” moment.
It’s definitely not the first time Venus had experienced problems concerning her court outfits, but at least she was able to avoid unnecessary exposure. The incident definitely caused a buzz in the stadium and the players were just as amused by the scene.
Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta will be defending their WTA Championships title in Doha. Dulko and Pennetta were the third team to qualify for the year ending championships which will be held in Istanbul this year.
Angelique Kerber has played yet another amazing match at the US Open and is now in the semifinals. Kerber defeated Flavia Pennetta 6-4 4-6 6-3 and will now play Samantha Stosur in the semifinal.
This marks an amazing tournament for Kerber who hasnt previously made it past the second round in her three attempts at the US Open.
Flavia Pennetta has breezed past Anastassia Grymalska 6-4, 6-1 in the first round of the Palermo Open yesterday.
Pennetta is the second top Italian player at the moment behind Francesca Schiavone. Pennetta won this clay-court tournament in 2009 is a two-time runner-up.
Expect her to be back in the running for the title come the weekend.
In the mens first round we saw the early performances from David Ferrer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who both won their matches in straight sets. Ferrer looked incredibly good as he swept past a strong Jarkko Nieminen.
In other results Julien Benneteau performed well in front of his local crowd, while Stanislas Wawrinka looked at home on the French clay. The only real upset of the day was Marin Cilic (19) falling to Spaniard Ruber Ramirez Hidalgo.
Womens Singles:
Julia Goerges has continued her great form with a very strong performance in the first round defeating Mathilda Johansson. Winners also included Samantha Stosur, Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anastasia Pavluchenkova.
The only real upsets on the womens side of the draw was Shahar Peer (19) losing to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, and Flavia Pennetta (18) being defeated by Varvara Lepchenko in three very tough sets.
Overall:
The performances of the day definitely came from Samantha Stosur who will look to go one step better this year and win the title. While on the mens side David Ferrer was very strong and it will take a lot to defeat him on the clay.
Mens Singles:
