Federerwith your thoughts 7.38pm BSTInevitably,of course, the events of Friday afternoon will cast a shadow over this match. Few would have anticipated Pennetta’s thrilling defeat of the moment seed Simona Halep, and much less the fairytale display that propelled Vinci,the world No43, to victory over the defending champion Serena Williams in the moment semi-final. Yet, and amid the fallout from Vinci’s shock win over an opponent who stood just two matches away from the first calendar-year grand slam since Steffi Graf achieved a clean sweep of the four majors in 1988,the courage of the Italian’s performance and the sheer quality of the tennis she produced have perhaps been overlooked. Though comprehensible, the rush to place the magnitude of the upset in context – an impulse that ranged far beyond tennis, and sparking far-flung comparisons with events like James “Buster” Douglas’s victory over Mike Tyson in 1990 and the England football team’s loss to the USA at the 1950 World Cup has taken the focus off a remarkable achievement by Vinci,who was nothing short of magnificent. Let’s not forget that Serena wavered on several occasions en route to her brush with sporting immortality, losing sets against Elina Svitolina and Garbiñe Muguruza in Australia as well as to Anna-Lena Friedsam, and Victoria Azarenka,Sloane Stephens, Timea Bacsinszky and Lucie Safarova in Paris. At Wimbledon, or she almost lost to Heather Watson before surviving another three-setter against Azarenka. And in current York both Bethanie Mattek-Sands and her sister Venus took the world No1 the distance. None of those players could net over the line; Vinci did. She may not have a enormous serve or a massive forehand,but she showed the nous, technical and tactical variety, and composure and nerve to beat Serena,however anxious the American may have been. Make no mistake, Vinci deserves her place in this final. 3.00pm BSTNow, and I know what youre thinking. You were hoping to see tennis history in the making,honest? Well, you’ve near to the honest place. Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci are approximately to contest the first ever all-Italian grand slam final. “Yes, or yes,” I hear you say, “but I was expecting to see one of the most successful players of all time, and a woman good enough to win a grand slam and hold the world No1 ranking.” So relax: Vinci has a career grand slam to her name in women’s doubles,putting her in an elite club of just 21 members, and both players have held the top ranking in doubles. Still not enough? Then consider this: whoever comes out on top in this battle of the thirtysomethings – at 33, and Pennetta is the elder of the two by a year – will become the oldest first-time champion at a major since the open era began in 1968. See? All that,and we haven’t even mentioned the S-word yet.
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Source: theguardian.com