Roberta Vinci

Roberta Vinci (Italian pronunciation: [roˈbɛrta ˈvintʃi]; born 18 February 1983) is an Italian tennis player. Up until 6 April 2015, she held the position of World No. 1 in doubles, whilst reaching a career-high of World No. 7 in singles in May 2016. She is the fourth Italian woman to have reached the top 10 in singles, together with Flavia Pennetta, Francesca Schiavone and Sara Errani. At 33 years and 4 days old, she is also the oldest ever player to make her first appearance in the Top 10.
She rose to worldwide prominence at the 2015 US Open, when she reached the semi-finals and defeated world number one Serena Williams in three sets, ending Williams's hopes of winning the Calendar Grand Slam, in what has been described by numerous commentators as one of the biggest shocks in tennis history. She went on to lose to Flavia Pennetta in the first ever all-Italian Grand Slam final.
Vinci has won 35 WTA Tour titles, 10 in singles and 25 in doubles, including the 2012 French Open, the 2012 US Open, the 2013 Australian Open and 2014 Australian Open, and 2014 Wimbledon titles with regular partner Sara Errani. In doing so, they became only the fifth pair in tennis history to complete a Career Grand Slam.
To date she has won 10 WTA singles titles. Her first title came in the 2007 Copa Colsanitas, over Tathiana Garbin. She won her second title at the 2009 Barcelona Ladies Open, over Maria Kirilenko. Her third title was at the 2010 BGL Luxembourg Open, over Julia Görges. Her fourth title was for her second victory after 2009 at the 2011 Barcelona Ladies Open, over Lucie Hradecká. Her fifth title was her first win on grass at the 2011 UNICEF Open, over Jelena Dokić. Her third victory in 2011 and sixth title was in Budapest over Irina-Camelia Begu. In 2012, at Dallas, over former world no.1 Jelena Janković for her 7th title. In 2013, she defeated Petra Kvitová for her 8th title at the 2013 BNP Paribas Katowice Open and doubles partner Sara Errani at Palermo. Her biggest title came in 2016, when she won the Premier event in St. Petersburg, defeating Belinda Bencic in the final.
She and her Italian teammates Mara Santangelo, Flavia Pennetta, and Francesca Schiavone beat the Belgian team 3–2 in the 2006 Fed Cup final. Justine Henin-Hardenne had to retire in the fifth and final match due to an injury in her right knee, which allowed Italy to win their first Fed Cup trophy. With the Italian team, she also won the Fed-Cup in 2009 and 2010 against the USA.
At the 2012 US Open, Vinci reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final, at 29 years of age, by defeating then-World No. 2 Agnieszka Radwańska in the fourth round. She subsequently lost to her doubles partner and World No. 10 Sara Errani in the quarter-finals. She achieved the same feat the following year when she defeated Camila Giorgi in the fourth round. She subsequently lost to Flavia Pennetta. She is one of the three players in the WTA top 100 (Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka are two others still practicing the old-school move) using the rare one-handed backhand, which is a very elegant and classy playing style.

Roberta Vinci was born in Taranto, the daughter of Angelo Vinci, an accountant, and his wife Luisa, a homemaker; she has an older brother, Francesco. Vinci was introduced to tennis at the age of six. She currently resides in Palermo, and is coached by Francesco Cina.

Early career

Vinci made her professional debut at an ITF tournament in Italy in 1999. Vinci also won the French Open in girls' doubles with fellow Italian Flavia Pennetta that same year. She qualified for her first Grand Slam at the 2001 US Open, but lost to Martina Suchá in the first round.

One of the biggest victories of her career came in 2005 was when she beat former world no. 2 and 2004 French Open champion Anastasia Myskina in the quarterfinals at the Hastings Direct International Championships in Eastbourne. Alongside Sandrine Testud, Vinci reached the semifinals in women's doubles of the 2004 French Open. In 2007 at Bogotá, Roberta Vinci won her first WTA title against the top seed Tathiana Garbin, also of Italy, in three sets, after falling behind 0–3 in the final set. She won the title after Garbin had to retire.

2009

Vinci qualified for the Brisbane International and defeated Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the first round, before losing to top seed Ana Ivanovic in the second. She then fell to fellow Italian Corinna Dentoni in the qualifications for Moorilla Hobart International. Vinci lost to eventual quarterfinalist Carla Suárez Navarro in the first round of the 2009 Australian Open. Vinci also played for Italy's Fed Cup team in the Fed Cup World Group stage versus France. Italy won 5–0.

At her first clay event, Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco, Vinci defeated sixth seed Lucie Šafářová in the first round, and then fell to Ágnes Szávay of Hungary. Vinci then lost in the second rounds of both the Monterrey Open (defeated by Iveta Benešová) and the Paribas Open in Indian Wells (defeated by Sybille Bammer), and fell in the qualifications for Miami Sony Ericsson Open to Anastasia Rodionova. Vinci then fell to eventual champion and former world no. 1 Jelena Janković in the quarterfinals of the Andalucía Tennis Experience in Marbella. At the Barcelona Ladies Open, Vinci earned her second career title, defeating Pauline Parmentier in the first round, Flavia Pennetta in the second, Anastasiya Yakimova in the quarterfinals, Francesca Schiavone in the semifinals, and defending champion Maria Kirilenko in the final.

Vinci reached the second round of the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem held in Fes. After she defeated Mariana Duque Marino in the first round, she lost to qualifier Polona Hercog in the second. At the 2009 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Vinci lost in the first round to Kateryna Bondarenko. She then beat María José Martínez Sánchez in the first round of the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, and then was beaten by Vera Dushevina in the second. She lost to 9th seed Victoria Azarenka in the first round at Roland Garros.

During the grass court season, Vinci reached the third round at Birmingham. She lost to Yanina Wickmayer in straight sets. The following week at s'Hertogenbosh, she lost her opening match to Daniela Hantuchová. At Wimbledon, Vinci beat no. 31 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round to set up a third-round matchup with no. 2 Serena Williams and lost. At the 2009 US Open, Vinci lost in the first round to Jelena Janković.

2010

Vinci lost in the third round of the Australian Open to Maria Kirilenko. She reached the third round of both Indian Wells and Miami, losing to Yanina Wickmayer and Venus Williams respectively. She reached the final at Barcelona but failed to defend her title, losing to fellow Italian Francesca Schiavone.

At the Roland Garros, Vinci lost in the second round to compatriot Flavia Pennetta. She fell to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round of Wimbledon.

She lost her opening match at the 2010 US Open to Venus Williams. She qualified for the 2010 Toray Pan Pacific Open but lost to Vera Zvonareva in the third round. Vinci also qualified for the 2010 China Open but lost to Vera Dushevina in the second round. Vinci lost to eventual champion Ana Ivanovic in the 2010 Generali Ladies Linz semifinals, 3–6, 5–7. She won her third WTA-title in the Luxembourg against Julia Görges, 6–3, 6–4.

2011

Roberta Vinci in Budapest

Vinci reached the quarter finals of Hobart losing to 6th seed Jarmila Gajdošová. She lost in the first round of the 2011 Australian Open to Alicia Molik. She reached the semi finals of Pattaya City, after defeating 2nd seed Ana Ivanovic in the quarter finals but then lost to Sara Errani. The rest of her year continued with dismal results with only 1 win and 6 loses over the course of 6 events from Dubai to Stuttgart.

She then entered the 2011 Barcelona Ladies Open, where she was the 6th seed. She ended up winning the tournament without having to beat a seed, or a player inside the top 50. She beat Lucie Hradecká in the final 4–6, 6–2, 6–2 This was her second time winning this tournament and her third clay court title. She then entered the Madrid tournament, where she reached the 3rd round before losing to Li Na 2–6, 6–2, 6–1, the first time she had ever won a set against her. She lost in the 3rd round of the 2011 French Open to Victoria Azarenka 6–3, 6–2.

Her next major success came at the 2011 UNICEF Open where she was the 7th seed. After wins over 3rd seed Yanina Wickmayer and 5th seed Dominika Cibulková in the quarter finals and semi finals respectively, she beat Jelena Dokić in the final 6–7(7), 6–3, 7–5. This was her second title of 2011 and her first title on grass. As the 29th seed at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships she reached the 3rd round where she lost to 8th seed and eventual champion Petra Kvitová 6–3, 6–3.

Her first post Wimbledon event was at Budapest where she was the No. 1 seed. She beat 3rd seed Klára Zakopalová and then 7th seed Irina-Cameilia Begu in the final 6–4, 1–6, 6–4. This was her 3rd tour title of the season.

She began her American hard court swing in Carlsbad as the 9th seed. She was upset in the second round by Zheng Jie. Vinci scored the biggest win of her career in Toronto, beating defending champion and world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, 6–4, 7–5, in the second round of the Rogers Cup. In the second set, Vinci rallied from 1–5 down and saved multiple set points, before going on to win the match. In the third round, she defeated former world no. 1 Ana Ivanovic, 7–6(3), 6–2. She lost in the quarter finals to 10th seed Samantha Stosur 6–4, 6–1.

As the 18th seed, at the 2011 US Open, Vinci made it to the third round. In the first round, she defeated the Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu, 6–3, 6–4. She then defeated Alizé Cornet, 6–2, 6–3. In the third round, she was sent home by Andrea Petkovic, 4–6, 0–6. Despite losing in the third round, this was Vinci's best performance so far in the US Open.

She qualified for the 2011 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions and was seeded 4th, but lost to eventual champion Ana Ivanovic 6–3, 6–3 in the quarterfinals.

2012: World no.1 in doubles

Roberta Vinci at 2012 US Open

Starting the year at the 2012 ASB Classic, she was seeded 6th and defeated Rebecca Marino in the first round before falling 3–6, 4–6 to unseeded Elena Vesnina in the second round. Roberta then suffered early round losses at the 2012 Apia International Sydney and the 2012 Australian Open to Daniela Hantuchová and Zheng Jie respectively.

Her next tournament came at the 2012 Open GDF Suez where she was seeded 7th. She defeated Simona Halep 6–4, 6–4, then Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6–3, 1–6, 6–3, before falling to eventual finalist Marion Bartoli in a third set tiebreaker in the quarterfinals. Vinci then traveled to Mexico where she participated in her next 2 tournaments, the 2012 Monterrey Open and the 2012 Abierto Mexicano Telcel. Seeded first in both events, she was upset by Nina Bratchikova in the second round of Monterrey, before bowing out to eventual champion Sara Errani in the semifinals at Acapulco.

Roberta then travelled to the 2012 BNP Paribas Open. Seeded 23rd, she beat Silvia Soler Espinosa, 20th seeded Dominika Cibulková, before falling to second-seeded Maria Sharapova 3–6, 6–4, 3–6. She returned to the top 20 following her fourth round appearance. She then bowed out to 10th seeded Serena Williams in the third round of the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open. She next participated at the 2012 Barcelona Ladies Open where she was the defending champ but lost in the second round to Simona Halep 6–1, 6–3. Ironically, the tournament champion was Sara Errani, her doubles partner. Vinci and Errani managed to win the doubles finals of 2012 Barcelona Ladies Open by beating Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta in an all Italian final, with the score of 6–2, 6–0.

She then entered the 2012 Estoril Open as the number 1 seed. She made it to the semi finals before losing to eventual champion Kaia Kanepi 6–2, 7–5. Her next tournament was Madrid, where she was unseeded and defeated the 14th seed Dominika Cibulková in the first round and lost in the round of 16 to Agniezska Radwańska. She then entered the 2012 French Open as the 17th seed and lost in the first round to Sofia Arvidsson.

Her first post French open event was the 2012 Aegon Classic where she was the 4th seed. She reached the Quarters before losing to Zheng Jie. She then was the 6th seed at the 2012 UNICEF Open, where she was the defending champion. She lost in the quarter finals to Kirsten Flipkens 6–4, 7–6(5). She then competed in the 2012 Wimbledon Championships as the 21st seed. She defeated Ashleigh Barty, Marina Erakovic and Mirjana Lučić to reach the round of 16. This was the first time she had ever reached the second week of a major. She ended up losing to Tamira Paszek 6–2, 6–2.

Vinci also won six doubles titles with the fellow Italian Sara Errani including the 2012 Mutua Madrid Open, the 2012 Internazionali BNL d'Italia and the 2012 French Open. She and Errani also made the finals of the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open and the 2012 Australian Open. Being, the most successful pair in, Vinci is currently the number four in doubles.

Vinci lost her opening match at the Olympics to Kim Clijsters, 1–6 4–6.

At the 2012 Rogers Cup in Montreal, Vinci defeated Yanina Wickmayer 6–2, 3–6, 7–5 after coming back from a 1–5 and match point deficit in the third set. In the second round she crushed 11th seed Ana Ivanovic 6–0, 6–0 in 45 minutes. After she defeated the number 6th seed Angelique Kerber with the result of 6–2, 7–6(7), but she was beaten in the quarterfinals by the Czech Lucie Šafářová in straight sets. Two weeks later Vinci defeated Jelena Janković 7–5, 6–3 to win her 7th WTA title at the 2012 Texas Tennis Open without losing a set in the entire tournament.

At the US Open, Vinci started her journey by defeating Urszula Radwańska 6–1, 6–1 and followed that victory up with a second round victory over Yaroslava Shvedova. In the third round, she defeated the 13th seed, Dominika Cibulková. In the fourth round, she defeated Agnieszka Radwańska in straight sets. In the Quarterfinals, she will meet her doubles partner, Sara Errani, ensuring that an Italian woman will reach the semifinals. She lost in the Quarterfinals, 6–2, 6–4.

Vinci partnered Sara Errani for the 2012 US Open. They were seeded number 2, behind the defending champions Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond. Errani and Vinci reached the final, defeating Czechs Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká for the title.

Following the US Open, Vinci travelled to Asia for the 2012 Toray Pan Pacific Open. She made it to the third round where she lost to top seed Victoria Azarenka. At Beijing, she lost her opener to qualifier Lourdes Domínguez Lino. As a result of her doubles success alongside Sara Errani, they qualified for the 2012 WTA Tour Championships for the first time. However, they lost to Russians Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko in the semifinals. Vinci once again qualified for the Tournament of Champions. In the round robin stage, she recorded wins over Hsieh Su-wei and Daniela Hantuchová and had a loss to Caroline Wozniacki. She advanced to the semifinals where she lost to 2nd seed and eventual champion Petrova. Vinci ended 2012 in Top 20 for the first time at no. 16 and no. 1 in for the first time also doubles ahead of her partner Errani.

2013

Vinci began 2013 by losing her opening match to Jarmila Gajdošová at Brisbane. She reached the quarterfinals at Sydney where she lost to eventual champion Agnieszka Radwańska. At the 2013 Australian Open where she was seeded 16th, she lost to Elena Vesnina in the third round. She partnered Sara Errani and won the doubles event.

She was seeded 5th at the 2013 Open GDF Suez but lost to German Mona Barthel in the second round. Vinci lost to Pole Urszula Radwańska in the 2nd round at 2013 Qatar Total Open. Then, at Dubai she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova, Samantha Stosur and Angelique Kerber en route to the semifinals. She eventually succumbed to doubles partner Sara Errani in straight sets.

Vinci lost in the third round at the 2013 BNP Paribas Open to Lara Arruabarrena. She improved her performance at Miami, reaching the quarterfinals. There, she lost to 22nd seed Jelena Janković. Vinci won her 8th WTA title when defeated top-seeded Petra Kvitová 7–6(2) 6–1 to win the 2013 BNP Paribas Katowice Open in Poland.

Roberta began her clay court season by losing her opening matches at Stuttgart and Madrid. She reached the 3rd round at Rome, but lost to Simona Halep. Vinci lost to Serena Williams in the 4th round at the 2013 French Open.

She was the top seed at the 2013 Topshelf Open but lost to Halep again in the second round. She reached the 4th round at Wimbledon but lost to Li Na. After that, Vinci competed at 2013 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo and won her 9th title by defeating doubles partner Sara Errani in the final. Vinci lost to Ana Ivanovic in the quarterfinals at the 2013 Southern California Open at Carlsbad.

At the 2013 Rogers Cup, she lost to Dominika Cibulková in the third round. Then, Vinci lost to Jelena Janković in the quarterfinals of the Western and Southern Open. Had she won this match, she would've entered the top 10 singles rankings for the first time in her career. At the 2013 US Open, Vinci reached her second Grand Slam quarterfinal, this time she lost to another Italian Flavia Pennetta.

During the Asian swing, she lost to Lucie Šafářová in the 2nd round at the 2013 Toray Pan Pacific Open after receiving a first round bye. At Beijing, she lost in the third round to Angelique Kerber. Her next tournament was at the 2013 Kremlin Cup. She lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals. Vinci and Errani once again qualified for the 2013 WTA Tour Championships but lost in the semifinals again to a Russian pair, Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina. Vinci ended the year at no. 14 in singles, her highest ever and no. 1 in doubles for the third straight season.

2014: Career Grand Slam in doubles

Vinci began the season at the 2014 ASB Classic as the top seed. She fell in the first round to rising star Ana Konjuh in three sets. Then at the 2014 Apia International Sydney, she lost to doubles partner Sara Errani in the first round. At the Australian Open, Vinci was the 12th seed but fell in the first round to Chinese Zheng Jie. In the doubles event, she partnered Errani and won the title, defeating Russian pair Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.

Then, she competed at the 2014 Open GDF Suez but lost in the first round again to Elina Svitolina. Her bad form continued with first round losses at Doha and Dubai to Tsvetana Pironkova and Sorana Cîrstea respectively. Vinci received a first bye at the 2014 BNP Paribas Open and defeated American Madison Keys in her opening match for her first victory of 2014. However, she lost to Casey Dellacqua in the following round. She once again lost her opening match at the 2014 Sony Open Tennis to Czech Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová in straight sets after having a first round bye.

Vinci failed to defend her title at the 2014 BNP Paribas Katowice Open. She beat qualifier Ksenia Pervak in round 1 but lost to fellow Italian Camila Giorgi the following round. Vinci faced Petra Kvitová during Italy's semifinal Fed Cup tie against Czech Republic but lost in straight sets.

She began her clay court season at Stuttgart. She beat Annika Beck in the first round and faced top seed Agnieszka Radwańska next. She lost to her in straight sets. In the doubles event, VInci and Errani were the champions, overcoming Cara Black and Sania Mirza in the final. Vinci reached her first quarterfinal of the year at the 2014 Portugal Open. She defeated Alexandra Cadanțu and Yanina Wickmayer en route. She then lost to Elena Vesnina. At the 2014 Mutua Madrid Open, she won her opening match against Daniela Hantuchová and went on to defeat Caroline Wozniacki in the second round. She lost to Radwańska again in the third round. Playing on home soil at the 2014 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Vinci lost in the first round to Ekaterina Makarova. She was seeded 20th at the French Open but lost to Pauline Parmentier in the first round. She and Errani lost in the doubles final to world no.1s Peng Shuai and Hsieh Su-wei.

She then competed at Eastbourne, but lost to Daniela Hantuchová this time in the first round. Her disastrous run continued at Wimbledon when she lost to Donna Vekić in the first round. However, she made history in the doubles event when she and Errani won defeating Hungarian-French pair Tímea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic in the final, completing a career slam in doubles.

Vinci posted good results the following month. She was the 2nd seed at the 2014 BRD Bucharest Open in Romania. She defeated Alexandra Dulgheru and Silvia Soler Espinosa for a place in the quarterfinals. She then reached her first semifinal of 2014 with a victory over 7th seed Petra Cetkovská. She then easily defeated Kristína Kučová and reached the final where she was defeated in straight sets by top seed and home favourite Simona Halep. Vinci is next competed at Istanbul where she was the 2nd seed, she defeated Anna Tatishvili in the first round. In the second round, she faced Dulgheru again and advanced to the quarterfinals when Dulgheru retired because of a shoulder injury. Vinci faced Kurumi Nara in the quarterfinals and won in straight sets. In the semifinals, she faced rising star Ana Konjuh, setting up a rematch of their opener in Auckland, Vinci won this time, defeating her in straight sets. In her 2nd consecutive final, Vinci lost to the top seed again, Caroline Wozniacki.

In August, Vinci lost in the first round at Montreal and Cincinnati to Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová and Sabine Lisicki respectively. Vinci and Errani won their 5th doubles title of the year together in the doubles event at Montreal. They defeated Cara Black and Sania Mirza in the final. At the 2014 US Open, Vinci won her first Grand Slam singles match of 2014 by defeating Paula Ormaechea in the first round followed by a three-set win over Irina-Camelia Begu. She then lost to eventual semifinalist Peng Shuai in the third round. Vinci fell out of the Top 40 as a result.

During the Asian swing, Vinci suffered another upset at the 2014 Guangzhou International Women's Open where she was seeded 6th. She lost to Zhu Lin in the first round. Then at Wuhan, she fell to Casey Dellacqua in the first round. Vinci found her good form at the China Open, defeating Yaroslava Shvedova and upsetting world no.6 Agnieszka Radwańska in the early rounds. Her run continued with another upset of Ekaterina Makarova in the third round. She booked her place in the quarterfinals where she faced Petra Kvitová. She lost to the Czech in straight sets. At the 2014 BGL Luxembourg Open, Vinci the 6th seed easily defeated Tereza Smitková in the first round but then lost to Beck in straight sets. Vinci and Errani once again qualified for the WTA Finals as the top seeds. They were forced to retire in their first hurdle to Květa Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik due to an injury suffered by Errani. Vinci ended the season outside the Top 40 for the first time since 2010 at no. 49.

2015: Surprise Grand Slam finalist

During the beginning of the 2015 year, Vinci switched her racquet brand to Babolat. Vinci kicked off her 2015 season with a loss to 7th seed Coco Vandeweghe in the first round at Auckland. The following week, she made her first quarterfinal of the year at Hobart after defeating both wildcard Olivia Rogowska and German Annika Beck in three sets before losing to eventual champion Heather Watson. At the Australian Open, Vinci overcame Bojana Jovanovski to reach round two but subsequently lost to Ekaterina Makarova.

Vinci was upset by Verónica Cepede Royg in the second round at the Rio Open. She then retired in her first round match against Kiki Bertens in Acapulco with a shoulder injury. Vinci then defeated Jarmila Gajdošová in the first round at the 2015 BNP Paribas Open. She then lost to Sabine Lisicki. The following week in Miami, she dropped her opening match against Tatjana Maria. During the week, it was also announced that Vinci and her long-term doubles partner Sara Errani decided to discontinue playing doubles together. They issued a joint statement stating that they had decided to pursue more in their singles career.

At Marrakech, Vinci lost to fellow Italian Karin Knapp in the second round. She then posted good results at the Mutua Madrid Open by reaching the round of 16 for the second straight year but lost to Lucie Šafářová. Later, she reached her first final of the season in Nuremberg but came up short in the final against Knapp, falling in three sets. Vinci lost to Alizé Cornet in the first round at the French Open.

Vinci went winless during the grass season, losing all three of her opening matches in Birmingham to Tímea Babos, in Eastbourne to Caroline Garcia and at Wimbledon to Aleksandra Krunić. In July, defending finalist Vinci fell in the second round at Bucharest Open to Krunić. At the İstanbul Cup, she was the defending finalist and reached the quarterfinals where she lost to Magdaléna Rybáriková.

Vinci then reached her second quarterfinal at the Rogers Cup after defeating Knapp, Mirjana Lučić-Baroni and Daria Gavrilova all in straight sets. She then succumbed to world no. 1 Serena Williams. She then lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round at Cincinnati. Vinci successfully qualified for the main draw at the Connecticut Open and easily defeated Eugenie Bouchard in the first round before falling to Caroline Wozniacki in three tight sets.

Vinci then reached her third US Open quarter-final in four years after Eugenie Bouchard withdrew a few hours before the match after she slipped and hit her head in the locker room. Later, she defeated Kristina Mladenovic in three sets to reach the semi-finals. At 32, Vinci became the oldest first-time Grand Slam semifinalist in the Open Era. She then dispatched defending champion Serena Williams in three sets en route to her first Grand Slam final, while also ending Williams' attempt at a calendar-year Grand Slam. Vinci was ranked 42 places lower than Williams at that time. Numerous major media outlets reported about Vinci's win over Williams being one of the biggest upsets in tennis history. She lost to fellow countrywoman Flavia Pennetta in the final in straight sets in what was the first all-Italian Grand Slam final in the Open Era. By virtue of her run to the final in New York, Vinci returned to the Top 20 for the first time since June 2014.

She then lost to Venus Williams in the semifinals of the Wuhan Open, worsening her record against the 35-year-old American 0-4. She also made the semifinals of the WTA Elite Trophy losing again to Venus Williams 2-6, 2-6.

2016: First title since 2013, Top 10 Debut

Vinci started her season at the Brisbane International and she started the tournament by defeating Jelena Janković in 3 sets. She then dominated Dominika Cibulková in their 2nd round match but lost to former World No.1 and 2 time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka in straight sets. She then traveled to Sydney but lost to Samantha Stosur in a thrilling 3-set match in the first round. After cruising past the first 2 rounds at the Australian Open, she suffered a shock as she lost to Anna-Lena Friedsam in 3 sets despite leading by a bagel.

Vinci then won her 1st title since 2013 at the inaugural St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, defeating Yanina Wickmayer and Tímea Babos, despite being down 5-3 in the final set in the latter. She then won her semi-final against former World No.1 Ana Ivanovic in straight sets and the final against No.1 seed Belinda Bencic.

Despite losing in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships to Yaroslava Shvedova, Vinci rose to a career high ranking of 10 as both Lucie Šafářová and Venus Williams did not defend their ranking points from the previous year. At the Qatar Total Open, Vinci defeated Lesia Tsurenko, Daria Kasatkina and Çağla Büyükakçay to reach the quarter finals. There, she lost to Agnieszka Radwańska in 3 sets despite having a one-set lead.

Vinci then fell to a shock loss to World No.153 Chang Kai-chen of Chinese Taipei in 3 sets at the Malaysian Open, despite leading by 1 set.

As the 9th seed at the BNP Paribas Open, she received a bye into the second round and faced Margarita Gasparyan. Vinci came through in a 3-set thriller, having to save match points in the process. She then won comfortably against 17th seed Elina Svitolina, but was forced to retire with an injury against Magdaléna Rybáriková in the 4th round.

Vinci entered the French Open as the 7th seed. However, in the first round, she lost to Kateryna Bondarenko in straight sets.

Playing style

Vinci is known for her doubles prowess, her ability at the net, and relentless use of the backhand slice; she has also been praised for her excellent movement and her sense of the court.

Grand Slam

Singles: 1 (runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	2015	US Open	Hard	Flavia Pennetta	6–7(4–7), 2–6

Doubles: 8 (5 titles, 3 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	2012	Australian Open	Hard	Sara Errani	Svetlana Kuznetsova Vera Zvonareva	5–7, 6–4, 6–3
Winner	2012	French Open	Clay	Sara Errani	Maria Kirilenko Nadia Petrova	4–6, 6–4, 6–2
Winner	2012	US Open	Hard	Sara Errani	Andrea Hlaváčková Lucie Hradecká	6–4, 6–2
Winner	2013	Australian Open	Hard	Sara Errani	Ashleigh Barty Casey Dellacqua	6–2, 3–6, 6–2
Runner-up	2013	French Open	Clay	Sara Errani	Ekaterina Makarova Elena Vesnina	5–7, 2–6
Winner	2014	Australian Open	Hard	Sara Errani	Ekaterina Makarova Elena Vesnina	6-4, 3-6, 7-5
Runner-up	2014	French Open	Clay	Sara Errani	Hsieh Su-wei Peng Shuai	4–6, 1–6
Winner	2014	Wimbledon	Grass	Sara Errani	Tímea Babos Kristina Mladenovic	6–1, 6–3

• 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2013 Fed Cup