By Randy Walker
Francesca Schiavone is the first Italian woman to play in the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament in the Open era (since 1968). After looking through the pages of THE BUD COLLINS HISTORY OF TENNIS ($35.95, New Chapter Press, www.NewChapterMedia.com) and scanning through the results from the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals of all of the major singles tournaments, I discovered that she is the third Italian woman to reach the singles semifinal of a major of all-time, joining Annelies Bossi, a losing semifinalist at the 1949 French, and Silvana Lazzarino, a losing semifinalist at the 1954 French (she lost to Maureen Connolly, 6-0, 6-1).
My favorite story involving Schiavone, as documented in my book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY ($19.95, New Chapter Press, www.TennisHistoryBook.com) is from September, 4, 2003, when Schiavone completed, and won, the first-ever four-day match at the US Open when she finished off Ai Sugiyama 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-2 in the round of 16. The match began four days earlier on Monday, Sept. 1 on Louis Armstrong Stadium and finally concluded on Court No. 10 after the two players go on and off the courts seven times during four days of rain at the USTA National Tennis Center.
Sugiyama actually lead 7-6, 5-4 when the match resumed on September 4. However, Schiavone won three straight games to win the second set and further elongate the encounter. With Sugiyama leading 2-0 in the third set, another strange incident happened as a ball boy’s misguided aim on a thrown ball hit the chair umpire Lynn Welch in the face, knocking off her glasses and cutting her nose, causing for another delay in play.
As Chris Clary from the New York Times then reported, “Schiavone sprinted off to find ice and Sugiyama dug into her tennis bag for a plastic bag to hold it. ”What else can happen?” Schiavone said on court. How about more rain? When play resumed several minutes later, the drizzle that has made Flushing Meadows seem like an American franchise of Wimbledon this week had returned. Before Schiavone and Sugiyama could finish the next game, they were forced off the court once more with Sugiyama leading by 40-15 on her serve.”
After the 93-minute delay, Schiavone then, incredibly, won six games in a row to win the match. Her reward? She was forced to play on only three-and-a-half hours rest that night in the quarterfinals against Jennifer Capriati, where she lost 6-1, 6-3 in 67 minutes.
Randy Walker is a communications and marketing specialist, writer, tennis historian and the managing partner of New Chapter Media – www.NewChapterMedia.com. He was a 12-year veteran of the U.S. Tennis Association’s marketing and communications division where he was worked as the press officer for 22 U.S. Davis Cup ties, three Olympic tennis teams and was an integral part of USTA media services team for 14 US Opens. He is the author of the book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY.