The world will finally know who Roberta Vinci is. Her win today over Serena Williams is a true David and Goliath story as nobody, no one, not even Roberta herself thought it was possible.
But as I said, the Italian women (Pennetta, Errani, Vinci) may not have the power game of Sharapova or the Williams sisters but they are very solid court players and they are also doubles specialists so they can find a way to trip up power players like what Vinci effectively showed today.
After she lost the first set and when Serena led 20 in the second set, I thought it was over for Roberta, but what she did afterward was genius.
She just used her doubles skills to make their match pretty interesting and she stuck with Serena point for point into the third set, and even all the bullet serves of Serena at 35 in the third set did not faze her.
What really amazed me was how calm she played each of the points when she was at 54 third set, serving for the match! Many other players either crumble, self-destruct and allow Serena back, but not Roberta. She played each point flawlessly, led 40-0 and had enough matchpoints to ensure she got into her very first grand slam final.
By the way, she is already a grand slam winner herself - in women's doubles - so she is not fazed anymore with big moments like serving out the match of her career- and as she said in the post-match interview, which I'm sure endeared her to the New York crowd - at those crucial moments, she just said to herself "put the ball in, each time, put the ball in." Sound advice for any tennis player.
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