83rd-ranked Italian player Flavia Pennetta has beat 10th-seeded compatriot Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-1 in the US Open women's quarter-final on Wednesday to advance to the final four at a Grand Slam for the first time.
According to Sport24, Pennetta, the fourth-worst ranked of any US Open women's semi-finalist ever, will next face the winner of a later match between Belarus second seed Victoria Azarenka and Slovakia's 48th-ranked Daniela Hantuchova.
The report said that Pennetta, who has not lost a set in the tournament and has dropped only 25 games in five matches, owns a 3-2 career edge against Hantuchova and has split two matches with two-time reigning Australian Open champion Azarenka.
The report also said that unranked 2009 winner Kim Clijsters, unranked 1979 semi-finalist Billie Jean King and 92nd-ranked German Angelique Kerber are the only lower-ranked women in a US Open last four, along with Pennetta.
According to the report, defending women's champion Serena Williams will meet Chinese fifth seed Li Na in Friday's other semi-final at Arthur Ashe Stadium, adding that either of Pennetta, Li and Williams would become the oldest US Open women's champion by winning Sunday's final.
