Flavia Pennetta is the first Italian tennis player, male or female, to reach No.1, joining Argentina's Gisela Dulko as co-No.1 doubles players on the WTA.
Dulko and Pennetta won seven WTA doubles titles together last year, including the WTA Championships - Doha 2010. This year, Pennetta and Dulko won their first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, rallying from 6-2 4-1 down to win a nail-biting title match against Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko.
Until now, no Italian on the ATP World Tour or WTA has been No.1 in either singles or doubles. The highest an Italian has achieved is No.4, shared between Adriano Panatta (ATP World Tour) and Francesca Schiavone (WTA).
Dulko, who rose to No.1 on November 1, 2010 and has held the top spot alone since then, was thrilled when told the news in Acapulco. "Without Flavia I couldn't be there. We always wanted that to happen," the Argentine said. "It's the best thing in the world because we both deserve to be No.1. It's amazing."
Dulko and Pennetta's co-No.1 status is the sixth time since doubles rankings were introduced on September 10, 1984 that two players will share No.1:
Lisa Raymond & Rennae Stubbs
(3 weeks from August 21 to September 10, 2000)
Virginia Ruano Pascual & Paola Suarez
(3 weeks from August 2 to August 22, 2004)
Lisa Raymond & Samantha Stosur
(39 weeks from July 10, 2006 to April 8, 2007)
Cara Black & Liezel Huber
(127 weeks from November 12, 2007 to April 18, 2010)
Serena Williams & Venus Williams
(8 weeks from June 7 to August 1, 2010)
Gisela Dulko & Flavia Pennetta
(starting February 28, 2011...)
3 comments:
I don't think this doubles team is the best in the world. They have been together for two years now and only one grand slam win. I'll give them credit they are consistent. I still like this duo.
As for their good looks, as a gentleman that prefers and only dates blonds I"ll say Dulko is the looker, Pennetta is the cute one. :P
Im waiting for some Kiri/Azo domination :D Ahahaha
The Princess and Angry Bird? Only if the Bird doesn't get angry. :P
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