Francesca Schiavone

Francesca Schiavone (Italian pronunciation: [franˈtʃeska skjaˈvoːne]; born 23 June 1980) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She had career-high rankings of world No. 4 in women's singles and No. 8 in women's doubles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Schiavone won eight WTA Tour-level singles titles, including a major at the 2010 French Open, the first Italian woman to win a singles major. To date, Schiavone is the last one-handed backhand player to win a major women's title.

Schiavone was also runner-up in singles at the 2011 French Open and in women's doubles at the 2008 French Open. She helped Italy win the Fed Cup in 2006, 2009 and 2010, and has the most match wins of any player for the Italian team.

Schiavone played the longest ever women's singles match at a major, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–4, 1–6, 16–14 in the fourth round of the 2011 Australian Open after 4 hours and 44 minutes.

Schiavone announced her retirement from the sport at the 2018 US Open, and shared aspirations of winning a major as a coach. In April 2021, Schiavone began coaching Petra Martić.

Schiavone won eight singles titles and also achieved eleven runner-up positions, eight of them since the autumn of 2005. She lost her first eight career finals on the WTA Tour before finally winning her first title in July 2007. She and her Italian teammates Mara Santangelo, Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci beat the Belgian team 3–2 in the 2006 Fed Cup final. Justine Henin had to retire in the fifth and final match due to an injury in her right knee, which let Italy win their first Fed Cup trophy. This match was a doubles match and Kirsten Flipkens partnered Henin, and Roberta Vinci partnered Schiavone. In 2009, she won the Fed Cup with Italy for the second time against the US, and also made the quarterfinals of Wimbledon for the first time. In 2010, Italy with Schiavone won the Fed Cup for the third time.

In addition, she realized a notable victory during the quarterfinals of the 2008 Dubai Open, when she upset world No. 1 and four-time champion Henin in two sets. She also beat Amélie Mauresmo in a Fed Cup tie in 2006 when Mauresmo was ranked No. 1.

Partnering with Australian Casey Dellacqua, Schiavone was the runner-up in the women's doubles competition at the 2008 French Open where they lost to Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual. Schiavone also reached the semifinals of the doubles event at the other three Grand Slam tournaments.

At the Australian Open, Francesca defeated Frenchwomen Alizé Cornet, and Julie Coin first before upsetting No. 10 seed Agnieszka Radwańska in straight sets. Though she matched her best results there (round four), she went on to lose to No. 6 seed Venus Williams after winning the first set.