A girl from Apulia in the Tennis Top Ten

The first Italian tennis player to reach the first ten places in the WTA ranking (Women’s Tennis Association) is from Apulia.  After her victories at the tournaments in Palermo and Los Angeles and at the semi-finals in Cincinnati, she is officially in the top ten of the world ranking. She is 10th in the WTA ranking, being the first Italian tennis player who has reached this goal in the history of tennis. Before her, Silvia Farina and Francesca Schiavone both secured 11th in the world ranking (on 20th May 2002 and  January 30, 2006 respectively).  In the past, Raffaella Reggia was 13th (April 25, 1988) and Sandra Cecchini was 15th (March 14, 1988).
Flavia Pennetta was born in Brindisi on February 25, 1982 and owes her passion for tennis to her father, Oronzo, who gave her a racket when she was 5.  Year after year, she has accomplished goals that allowed her to reach the most coveted one, being counted among the top ten world champions.
After being in the limelight of the junior categories in 1996, winning the Italian U14 doubles championship, Flavia played in the ITF tournaments (International Tennis Federation) in 1997.  In 2004, she ranked 1st in a WTA tournament and was in the top 50.
On January 30, 2006, she made the world’s top 10 list for the first time, ranking 16th.
In 2007, besides having reached the Fed Cup final, she won the fourth WTA title in Bangkok.
In 2008, she won two titles, Vina del Mar and Acapulco (with 6 titles won in her entire career) and reached the US Open quarter-finals and the Roland Garros qualifying heats. Beating Jankovic in Zurigo, Flavia has become the third Italian player (after Tathiana Garbin and Francesca Schiavone) who defeated the number one tennis player in the WTA ranking.
On February 9, 2009, she reached her best position in the WTA ranking, being 11th.
On August 9, 2009, she won the Los Angeles tournament beating Nadia Petrova, Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinals and Maria Sharapova in the semi-finals.  In just 1 hour and 21 minutes, she beat the Australian Samatha Stosur (6-4 6-3), securing the 12th place in the WTA ranking the following day.
With her victories in the following Cincinnati tournament in the qualifying matches, she ranked 11th in the WTA ranking.  She entered the top 10 thanks to her success in the quarterfinals against Daniela Hantuchova from Slovakia.
Finally, on August 17, 2000 Pennetta officially enters the top 10, overtaking Ivanovic.
Congratulations Flavia, best wishes from Puglialovers.it!!!
Flavia surely loves Apulia as much as we do!!!