ITF

US OPEN How wrong those assumptions were. Halep never got going and was beaten 61 63 in just 59 minutes by Pennetta before Vinci produced one of the greatest shocks ever by beating Williams 26 64 64. The world No. 43 had failed to win a set in their four previous meetings but fought back after losing the first and after going 2-0 down in the third. Williams insisted afterwards that she had not buckled under pressure, but the racket she smashed after the second set was perhaps an indication of her inner turmoil. Vinci described the win as the best moment of her life, while Williams stressed: "I did win three Grand Slams this year. I won four in a row. It's pretty good." The first all-Italian Grand Slam final in the Open era thus brought together friends who had first played each other at Pennetta's home club in Brindisi when they were aged ten and nine and later shared an apartment in Rome. Pennetta, who at 33 was the oldest woman in modern times to reach her first Grand Slam final, beat Vinci 76 62 after taking control at the start of the second set. As they sat chatting on court after the match, Pennetta let her friend into a secret: she would be announcing her retirement at the presentation ceremony. Pennetta later explained that she had made the decision earlier in the summer. "Sometimes it's getting hard for me to compete," Pennetta said. "It was a really hard decision to make, but I'm really happy that I did it. If I had dreamed about how I wanted to finish, this was the perfect way." If the line-up for the women's final was a huge surprise, the men's was highly predictable as Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, world No. 1 and No. 2 respectively, met for the 42nd time and a record 14th time in Grand Slam competition. Andy Murray had been expected to provide the greatest challenge to the top two but lost to Kevin Anderson in the fourth round, which was his earliest exit from a Grand Slam tournament for five years. Stan Wawrinka, who had won two of the previous seven Grand Slam tournaments, was swept aside by Federer in the semifinals. Djokovic dropped only three games in his semifinal against the defending champion, Marin Cilic, who was struggling with an ankle injury. While Djokovic had taken time to rediscover his best tennis after winning his third Wimbledon title, Federer had been in outstanding form. After losing to Djokovic in the Wimbledon final he won 28 sets in succession to claim the title in Cincinnati and then reach his first US Open final for six years. He had even found time to invent a new shot, which his entourage had labelled the SABR ('stealth attack by Roger'). Several times in a match Federer would charge forward towards the service line to half-volley his returns. Taken by surprise, his opponents would often miss with attempted passing shots, knowing that Federer would deal with anything else at the net. Federer used the tactic against Djokovic, but only to limited effect as the world No. 1 underlined his supremacy with a 64 57 64 64 victory to claim his third Grand Slam title of the year. Federer had his chances but paid the price for converting only four of his 23 break points. Djokovic's only defeat in Grand Slam tournaments in 2015 was to Wawrinka in the Roland Garros final, while his career tally of ten Grand Slam titles left only six players in front of him on the all-time list: Federer (17 titles), Rafael Nadal and Pete Sampras (14 each), Roy Emerson (12) and Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver (11 each). Nadal, ending the season without a Grand Slam title for the first time since 2004, lost a match from two sets up for the first time in his career as Fabio Fognini beat him in the third round. Kei Nishikori, the 2014 runner-up, fell at the first hurdle to Benoit Paire, while many players found the draining heat and humidity their greatest opponent. There were 13 mid-match retirements in the men's singles, an Open era record in Grand Slam tournaments. Although the retractable roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium Serena Williams was left two wins short of the calendar-year Grand Slam It was Roger Federer's first US Open final for six years

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