Francesca Schiavone is an Italian former tennis player.
45 Facts About Francesca Schiavone
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Francesca Schiavone turned professional in 1998 and won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles.
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Francesca Schiavone's career-high ranking is world No 4, achieved on 31 January 2011.
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Francesca Schiavone won eight career singles titles in total, seven on the WTA Tour and one at Roland Garros.
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On 5 September 2018, Francesca Schiavone announced her retirement from tennis at the US Open.
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Francesca Schiavone was born in Milan to Franco Francesca Schiavone, from Manocalzati in the Province of Avellino, Campania, Southern Italy, and to Luiscita Minelli, from Bornato in the Province of Brescia, Northern Italy.
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Francesca Schiavone employs an all-court game and has a very classic approach to her clay game.
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Francesca Schiavone uses an extreme eastern grip on her one-handed backhand.
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Francesca Schiavone was endorsed by multiple companies throughout her professional career.
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Francesca Schiavone switched to Adidas in 2013; due to a series of poor results, she was dropped by the company, moving to Asics in 2014, remaining with Asics for the rest of her professional career.
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For racquets, Francesca Schiavone used Yonex racquets until 2006; in that year, she switched to Babolat, using the Pure Aero racquet until her retirement in 2018.
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Francesca Schiavone won eight singles titles and achieved eleven runner-up positions, eight of them since the autumn of 2005.
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Francesca Schiavone lost her first eight career finals on the WTA Tour before finally winning her first title in July 2007.
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In 2010, Italy with Francesca Schiavone won the Fed Cup for the third time.
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Francesca Schiavone beat Amelie Mauresmo in a Fed Cup tie in 2006 when Mauresmo was ranked No 1.
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Francesca Schiavone reached the semifinals of the doubles event at the other three Grand Slam tournaments.
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Francesca Schiavone beat Alberta Brianti, Tathiana Garbin, Carla Suarez Navarro, Yaroslava Shvedova, and Roberta Vinci all in straight sets to win her third WTA title at the Barcelona Ladies Open.
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Francesca Schiavone defeated Regina Kulikova, Sophie Ferguson, 11th seed Li Na, and 30th seed Maria Kirilenko to reach her first French Open quarterfinal since 2001.
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Francesca Schiavone became the oldest woman to win a first Grand Slam title in the Open Era, beating the previous record by Jana Novotna.
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Francesca Schiavone reached the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup, where she fell to top seed Caroline Wozniacki.
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Francesca Schiavone was the sixth seed at the US Open, and defeated Ayumi Morita, Maria Elena Camerin, 29th seed Alona Bondarenko, and 20th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2003.
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At the season-ending Tour Championships, Francesca Schiavone competed for the first time in her career but was eliminated in the round-robin stage.
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Francesca Schiavone fell to Caroline Wozniacki in three sets, and Sam Stosur in two sets before defeating Elena Dementieva in what would be Dementieva's final career match.
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Francesca Schiavone began the year at the Hopman Cup representing Italy.
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At the Dubai Tennis Championships, Francesca Schiavone was seeded third, but fell in the round of 16 to Kuznetsova.
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Francesca Schiavone then fell to eventual champion Jelena Dokic at the Malaysian Open.
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Francesca Schiavone then reached the round of 16 again at the Indian Wells Open, falling to Shahar Pe'er.
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Francesca Schiavone began her clay-court season with a round of 16 loss to Radwanska at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
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Francesca Schiavone then reached the round of 16 at the Madrid Open, falling to Mattek-Sands.
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Francesca Schiavone then lost to world No 1, Caroline Wozniacki, in three sets during the semifinals of the Brussels Open, the last tournament before the French Open.
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Francesca Schiavone was the fifth seed and defending champion at the French Open.
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Francesca Schiavone then switched to the grass courts, falling to Agnieszka Radwanska at the Eastbourne International in her only Wimbledon warmup.
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Francesca Schiavone was the sixth seed at the Wimbledon Championships, losing in the third round to Tamira Paszek of Austria.
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Francesca Schiavone then lost to former world No 1, Jelena Jankovic, in a third round three-setter.
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Just before the US Open Francesca Schiavone entered the New Haven Open.
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Francesca Schiavone defeated Alexandra Dulgheru and Monica Niculescu in the first two rounds.
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Francesca Schiavone's quarterfinal match against Anabel Medina Garrigues was a walkover.
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Francesca Schiavone was defeated by Wozniacki in straight sets in the semifinals.
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At the China Open Francesca Schiavone emerged victorious in the first round against Bojana Jovanovski but was then defeated in the second round by Dominika Cibulkova.
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Francesca Schiavone represented Italy in Fed Cup semifinals against Czech Republic, losing both of her matches to Lucie Safarova and to Petra Kvitova.
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Francesca Schiavone lost her opener in Madrid to Varvara Lepchenko and Rome to Ekaterina Makarova.
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However, Francesca Schiavone finally found some form going into the French Open, winning Strasbourg by defeating Sloane Stephens and Alize Cornet in the semifinals and finals, respectively.
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Francesca Schiavone reached the third round of French Open, where she lost to Varvara Lepchenko.
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Francesca Schiavone then competed at the Pan Pacific Open where she defeated Yaroslava Shvedova in the first round but then lost to Sam Stosur.
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Francesca Schiavone then suffered three consecutive first-round losses to Li Na at Beijing, to Olga Puchkova at Osaka and to Urszula Radwanska at Moscow.