Francesca Schiavone

at the 2011 Roland Garros
Country	Italy
Residence	Milan, Italy
Born	23 June 1980 (1980-06-23) (age 31) Milan, Italy
Height	1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)
Turned pro	1996
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$ 8,570,257
Singles
Career record	483–327
Career titles	4 WTA
Highest ranking	No. 4 (31 January 2011)
Current ranking	No. 8 (12 September 2011)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	QF (2011)
French Open	W (2010)
Wimbledon	QF (2009)
US Open	QF (2003, 2010)
Other tournaments
Championships	RR (2010)
Doubles
Career record	188–159
Career titles	7 WTA, 1 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 8 (12 February 2007)
Current ranking	No. 131 (12 September 2011)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	SF (2009)
French Open	F (2008)
Wimbledon	QF (2006)
US Open	SF (2006)
Last updated on: 12 September 2011.

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 20 August 2011, Schiavone's ranking is World No. 8; her career high ranking is World No. 4, achieved on 31 January 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."

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. 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.

2010

At the Australian Open Francesca defeated Frenchwomen Alizé Cornet 0–6, 7–5, 6–0. and Julie Coin 6–3, 6–4 first before upseting No. 10 seed Agnieszka Radwańska 6–2, 6–2. Though she matched her best results there (4R), she went on to lose to No. 6 seed Venus Williams after winning the first set 3–6, 6–2, 6–1.

She beat Alberta Brianti, Tathiana Garbin, Carla Suárez Navarro, Yaroslava Shvedova, and Roberta Vinci all in straight sets to win her 3rd WTA title at the Barcelona Ladies Open.

Seeded 17th entering the 2010 French Open, Schiavone was lightly regarded as a contender for the championship. She defeated Regina Kulikova, Sophie Ferguson, 11th seed Li Na, and 30th seed Maria Kirilenko to reach her first French Open quarterfinal since 2001 (where she had lost to Martina Hingis). In the quarterfinals, she defeated World No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets to become the first Italian woman to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam singles event.

The semifinals of the French Open consisted of four players (Jelena Janković, Elena Dementieva, Samantha Stosur and Schiavone) who had never won a Grand Slam singles event; nevertheless, most in the tennis community, including ESPN's tennis commentary team of Mary Jo Fernandez, Patrick McEnroe and Brad Gilbert singled out Schiavone as the one player who was not a serious contender to win the title. In the semifinals, Schiavone defeated World No. 5 Dementieva after Dementieva retired in the second set with a torn calf muscle having lost the first set in a tiebreaker; the victory made Schiavone the first Italian woman to reach a Grand Slam final, and assured that she would become a top-ten player for the first time following the tournament.

In the final, Schiavone faced Stosur in a rematch of their first-round meeting at the 2009 French Open which Stosur had won easily (6–4, 6–2). Because of this previous result, and Stosur's victories over four-time French Open champion Justine Henin, World No. 1 Serena Williams and World No. 4 Janković en route to the final, Stosur was considered a heavy favorite to defeat Schiavone. However, on 5 June 2010, Schiavone defied expectations to become the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam singles title, defeating Stosur 6–4, 7–6(2). The victory made her only the third Italian player to win a Grand Slam event in singles, after Nicola Pietrangeli and Adriano Panatta. The victory also meant she rose to number 6 in the World Rankings on 7 June 2010 and became the highest ranked Italian woman ever after Flavia Pennetta reached world No. 10 in 2009.

Schiavone's next event after the French Open was Eastbourne, where she lost in the first-round to Sorana Cîrstea 5–7, 3–6.

Schiavone was the 5th seed at Wimbledon, due to the pre-tournament withdrawal of Dementieva, however she lost to Vera Dushevina in the first round 7–6, 5–7, 1–6.

Schiavone reached the quarterfinals of the 2010 Rogers Cup, where she fell to top seed Caroline Wozniacki.

Schiavone was the 6th seed at the US Open. She defeated Ayumi Morita, Maria Elena Camerin, 29th seed Alona Bondarenko, and 20th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2003 (where she had lost to Jennifer Capriati). In the quarterfinals, she fell to seven-time Grand Slam singles champion No.3 seed Venus Williams 7–6(5), 6–4.

As the 5th seed, Schiavone reached the semifinals of the 2010 Toray Pan Pacific Open, where she fell to 7th seed Elena Dementieva.

At the season-ending WTA Tour Championships, Schiavone competed for the first time in her career but was eliminated in the round robin stage. Schiavone fell to Caroline Wozniacki in three sets, Samantha Stosur in two sets and before defeating Elena Dementieva in what would be Dementieva's final career match.

2011

Schiavone began the year at the 2011 Hopman Cup representing Italy. In singles, Schiavone defeated Great Britain's Laura Robson, but fell to American Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Schiavone retired with an injury against Kristina Mladenovic.

Seeded 6th at the 2011 Australian Open, Schiavone advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time in her career upon a memorable victory over 23rd seeded and two-time grand slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. The 4th round encounter lasted nearly five hours (4:44; 47 games in total), and Schiavone saved six match points before finally prevailing 6–4, 1–6, 16–14. With this win, Schiavone rose in the rankings to World No. 4 after the tournament, the highest ranking ever achieved by an Italian woman, improving her own record. Unfortunately, her good fortune did not last in the quarterfinal against World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, in a rematch of their 2010 French Open quarterfinal, which Schiavone won en route to the title. Although Schiavone was a set and 3–1 up in the second set, she was broken twice by Wozniacki in the same set and twice in the third, to lose 3–6, 6–3, 6–3 despite fighting her way out of three match points.

At the 2011 Dubai Tennis Championships, Schiavone was seeded 3rd, but fell in the Round of 16 to Kuznetsova. At the 2011 Qatar Ladies Open in Doha, Schiavone fell to Peng Shuai in the Round of 16. She then fell to eventual champion Jelena Dokic at the 2011 Malaysian Open. Schiavone then reached the Round of 16 again at the 2011 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, falling to Shahar Peer. Seeded 5th at the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Schiavone reached the Round of 16, losing to Agnieszka Radwańska.

Schiavone began her clay court season with a Round of 16 loss to Radwanska at the 2011 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. She then reached the Round of 16 at the 2011 Mutua Madrid Open, falling to Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Following Madrid, Schiavone then reached the quarterfinals of the 2011 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, losing to World No. 7 Samantha Stosur, in a rematch of the 2010 French Open final. She then lost to World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in three sets during the semifinals of the 2011 Brussels Open, the last tournament before the French Open.

Schiavone was the 5th seed and the defending champion at the 2011 French Open. She beat Melanie Oudin, Vesna Dolonts, 29th seed Peng Shuai, 10th seed Jelena Janković, 14th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and 11th seed Marion Bartoli to reach the final. In the final, she lost to Li Na, 6–4, 7–6^(7–0).

Schiavone then switched to the grass courts, falling to Agnieszka Radwańska at the 2011 AEGON International in her only Wimbledon warmup. She was the 6th seed at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, losing in the third round to Tamira Paszek of Austria.

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 2 (1-1)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	2010	French Open	Clay	Samantha Stosur	6–4, 7–6(7–2)
Runner-up	2011	French Open	Clay	Li Na	4–6, 6–7(0–7)

Doubles: 1 (0-1)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	2008	French Open	Clay	Casey Dellacqua	Anabel Medina Garrigues Virginia Ruano Pascual	6–2, 5–7, 4–6

WTA Tour finals

Singles finals: 15 (4–11)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
Runner-up	1.	12 June 2000	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Hard	Iroda Tulyaganova	3–6, 6–2, 3–6
Runner-up	2.	6 January 2003	Canberra, Australia	Hard	Meghann Shaughnessy	1–6, 1–6
Runner-up	3.	12 September 2005	Bali, Indonesia	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	2–6, 4–6
Runner-up	4.	10 October 2005	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Mary Pierce	4–6, 3–6
Runner-up	5.	24 October 2005	Hasselt, Belgium	Carpet	Kim Clijsters	2–6, 2–6
Runner-up	6.	9 January 2006	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Justine Henin	6–4, 5–7, 5–7
Runner-up	7.	3 April 2006	Amelia Island, United States	Clay	Nadia Petrova	4–6, 4–6
Runner-up	8.	25 September 2006	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Hard	Alona Bondarenko	3–6, 2–6
Winner	1.	29 July 2007	Bad Gastein, Austria	Clay	Yvonne Meusburger	6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	9.	13 July 2009	Prague, Czech Republic	Clay	Sybille Bammer	6–7(4–7), 2–6
Runner-up	10.	12 October 2009	Osaka, Japan	Hard	Samantha Stosur	5–7, 1–6
Winner	2.	25 October 2009	Moscow, Russia	Hard (i)	Olga Govortsova	6–3, 6–0
Winner	3.	17 April 2010	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Roberta Vinci	6–1, 6–1
Winner	4.	5 June 2010	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Samantha Stosur	6–4, 7–6(7–2)
Runner-up	11.	4 June 2011	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Li Na	4–6, 6–7(0–7)

Doubles finals: 14 (7–7)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
Winner	1.	29 July 2001	Sopot	Clay	Joannette Kruger	Yulia Beygelzimer Anastasia Rodionova	6–4 6–0
Runner-up	1.	4 May 2003	Warsaw	Clay	Eleni Daniilidou	Liezel Huber Magdalena Maleeva	6–3, 4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	2.	15 February 2004	Paris	Hard	Silvia Farina Elia	Barbara Schett Patty Schnyder	3–6, 2–6
Winner	2.	2 May 2004	Warsaw	Clay	Silvia Farina Elia	Gisela Dulko Patricia Tarabini	3–6 6–2 6–1
Winner	3.	26 February 2005	Doha	Hard	Alicia Molik	Cara Black Liezel Huber	6–3 6–4
Runner-up	3.	2005	Filderstadt	Hard	Květa Peschke	Daniela Hantuchová Anastasia Myskina	6–7(1), 1–6
Winner	4.	25 February 2006	Dubai	Hard	Květa Peschke	Svetlana Kuznetsova Nadia Petrova	3–6, 7–6, 6–3
Runner-up	4.	22 May 2006	Rome	Clay	Květa Peschke	Daniela Hantuchová Ai Sugiyama	6–3, 3–6, 1–6
Runner-up	5.	27 July 2006	Stanford	Hard	Yoon-Jeong Cho	Cara Black Lisa Raymond	7–6 6–1
Winner	5.	1 October 2006	Luxembourg City	Hard Indoors	Květa Peschke	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Liezel Huber	2–6 6–4 6–1
Winner	6.	15 October 2006	Moscow	Carpet	Květa Peschke	Iveta Benešová Galina Voskoboeva	6–4 6–7 6–1
Runner-up	6.	21 October 2007	Zürich	Hard (i)	Lisa Raymond	Květa Peschke Rennae Stubbs	7–5 7–6(1)
Runner-up	7.	7 May 2008	Paris	Clay	Casey Dellacqua	Anabel Medina Garrigues Virginia Ruano Pascual	6–2, 5–7, 4–6
Winner	7.	3 October 2009	Tokyo, Japan	Hard (i)	Alisa Kleybanova	Daniela Hantuchová Ai Sugiyama	6–4, 6–2

Singles performance timeline

Key

Won tournament, or reached Final, Semifinal, Quarterfinal, Round 4, 3, 2, 1, lost in Qualification Round 3, Round 2, Round 1 or Round Robin, Absent from a tournament or Participated in a team event, played in a Davis Cup Zonal Group (with its number indication) or Play-Off, won a bronze or silver match at the Olympics. The last is for a Masters Series/1000 tournament that was relegated (Not a Masters Series).

WTA Tour career earnings

*As of 23 May. 2011

Head-to-head vs. top 10

Players who have been ranked World No. 1 in boldface

Awards
Preceded by Yanina Wickmayer	WTA Most Improved Player 2010	Succeeded by Incumbent

Women's Tennis Association: Top ten European female singles tennis players as of September 12, 2011 1. Caroline Wozniacki (1 )  · 2. Maria Sharapova (2 2)  · 3. Victoria Azarenka (3 2)  · 4. Vera Zvonareva (4 2)  · 5. Petra Kvitová (6 1) 6. Francesca Schiavone (8 )  · 7. Kim Clijsters (9 6)  · 8. Marion Bartoli (10 1) · 9. Andrea Petkovic (11 )  · 10. Jelena Janković (12 )

Women's Tennis Association: Top ten Italian female singles tennis players as of 29 August 2011. 1. Francesca Schiavone (8 ) · 2. Roberta Vinci (20 1) · 3. Flavia Pennetta (25 2) · 4. Sara Errani (38 ) · 5. Alberta Brianti (56 1) 6. Maria Elena Camerin (119 ) · 7. Romina Oprandi (131 1) · 8. Camila Giorgi (162 ) · 9. Corinna Dentoni (171 ) · 10. Anna Floris (192 1)