Francesca Schiavone US Open Tennis saves match point

 Francesca Schiavone (Italian pronunciation: [franˈtʃeska skjaˈvoːne]; born 23 June 1980 in Milan) is an Italian tennis player who turned professional in 1998. She won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles. She was also runner-up at the 2011 French Open. As of 4 July 2011, Schiavone's ranking will be World No. 8; her career high ranking is World No. 4, achieved on 31 January 2011.

Country ITA
Residence Milan, Italy
Born 23 June 1980 (1980-06-23) (age 31)
Milan, Italy
Height 1.66 m (5 ft 5 1⁄2 in)
Turned pro 1996
Plays Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Career prize money US$ 8,383,26

 Francesca Schiavone Tennis star

 Francesca Schiavone

 Professional career

Schiavone has won four singles titles on the WTA tour, but has also achieved ten runner-ups in total, eight of them since the autumn of 2005. Schiavone lost her first eight career finals before finally winning her first title in July 2007. She and her Italian teammates Mara Santangelo, Flavia Pennetta, and Roberta Vinci beat the Belgium team 3–2 in the 2006 Fed Cup final. Justine Henin had to retire in the fifth and final match due to an injury in her right knee, which let Italy win their first Fed Cup trophy.[2] This match was a doubles match and Kirsten Flipkens partnered Henin and Roberta Vinci partnered Schiavone. In 2009 she won the Fed Cup with Italy for the second time against the USA, and also made the quarterfinals of Wimbledon for the first time. In 2010 Italy with Schiavone won the Fed Cup for the third time.

In addition, she realized a notable victory during the quarterfinals of the 2008 Dubai Duty Free Women's Open, when she upset World No. 1 and four-time champion Henin 7–6, 7–6. She also beat Amélie Mauresmo in a Fed Cup tie in 2006 when Mauresmo was ranked No. 1.

Partnering with Australian Casey Dellacqua, Schiavone was the runner-up in the women's doubles competition at the 2008 French Open.

 Francesca Schiavone victory 

"I think sometimes I could play a little bit less, but sometimes I am like this," said Schiavone, whose four-hour, 44-minute triumph over Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round of the Australian Open in January is a women's Grand Slam record.

Saturday's 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 clocked in at just under three hours.

Schiavone, the 2010 French Open champion and runner-up at Roland Garros this year, said she would have liked to finish things off sooner against the 81st-ranked Scheepers, but without a power game it's not always possible.

"I don't play like Serena -- boom-boom," said Italy's world number eight, who at 31 is the oldest woman remaining in the tournament. "I have to work harder."

Scheepers had served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but fired a fierce backhand long on her lone match point.

Two games later, Schiavone had a chance to secure the set against Scheepers' serve, but the South African held on through three break points to force the tiebreaker.

 Once the match was all-square, it was a back-and-forth battle in the third.

Schiavone had medical treatment before the final frame, the physio massaging the muscles around her ribs to loosen her up after she felt short of breath.

Then, she turned up the heat.

"In the third set I started to push like I had to," said Schiavone, who next faces Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for a quarter-final berth.

The 17th-seeded Russian beat former world number one Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-4, 6-4.

Scheepers, a 27-year-old based in Florida who broke into the top 100 for the first time last year, said she just tried to forget about blowing her match point and keep fighting.

"I just went out in that third set and tried to do the same thing I did in the first two sets," she said. "She lifted her game a little bit, that made it more difficult."

Then again, Scheepers said, that was to be expected against Schiavone, who had the enthusiastic backing of the crowd on the intimate Grandstand court. 

 Francesca Schiavone won the match in us open 2011

Playing style
Schiavone employs an all court game and has a very classic approach to her clay game. She uses an extreme eastern grip on her one handed backhand. Chris Fowler and Brad Gilbert described her forehand as a "buggy whip."