Flavia Pennetta

Italian player Flavia Pennetta dispatched the comebacking Maria Sharapova in the semifinals of the LA Women's Tennis Championships, beating the former world No. 1 in three sets.

Pennetta, the 10th seed in the tournament, is the No. 15 player in the WTA singles rankings. A win in LA would certainly improve that position.

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Flavia Pennetta

Flavia Pennetta reached the quarterfinals at the 2008 U.S. Open before falling to Dinara Safina. Pennetta, from Italy, has two tournament wins so far this year, the Abierto Mexicano Telcel and the Cachantun Cup, both on clay; she's reached on other final. Her WTA singles ranking as of this writing is 19th.

Flavia Pennetta

We featured Flavia Pennetta not too long ago, but given that she just had one of the biggest wins of her career, let's give her the spotlight again.

The Italian knocked off Venus Williams at the French Open in the third round, 7-5, 6-3. Pennetta is ranked No. 30 in the world and has a 16-3 record on clay so far in 2008. She has two tournaments wins this year, both on clay.

Flavia Pennetta