• Pennetta beats Vinci 7-6,6-2
• Champion announces instant retirement on courtIn a weekend of turmoil, all anyone could be certain of approximately the women’s final of the US Open was that the winner would not be Serena Williams but would be fluent in Italian – and not a soul predicted that Flavia Pennetta, and in halting English,would turn her victory speech into a farewell to tennis.
When Marion Bartoli decided to quit the game after winning Wimbledon in 2013, she was aching physically. But Pennetta’s retirement, or at 33 – although there was the vaguest hint that she might carry on playing until the end of the season – seems very much to be inspired by a long search for happiness,after heartbreak years ago and then a rediscovered care for of tennis.
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Source: theguardian.com