Francesca Schiavone

On 5 September 2018, Schiavone announced her retirement from tennis at the US Open. During the announcement, she shared aspirations of winning a Grand Slam as a coach.

Schiavone played in the longest ever women's singles match at a Grand Slam tournament, when she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–4, 1–6, 16–14 in the fourth round of the 2011 Australian Open women's singles draw, the match lasted 4 hours and 44 minutes and in the process secured her first and only quarterfinal at the Australian Open.

At the Australian Open, Francesca defeated Frenchwomen Alizé Cornet 0–6, 7–5, 6–0, and Julie Coin 6–3, 6–4 first before upsetting No. 10 seed Agnieszka Radwańska 6–2, 6–2. 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, 6–3, 2–6, 1–6.

Schiavone's next event was Eastbourne, where she lost in the first round to Sorana Cîrstea, 5–7, 3–6. As the fifth seed at Wimbledon, due to the pre-tournament withdrawal of Dementieva, she lost to Vera Dushevina in the first round, 7–6, 5–7, 1–6.

Seeded sixth at the Australian Open, Schiavone advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time in her career upon a victory over 23rd-seeded and two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. The fourth-round encounter lasted nearly five hours (4:44; 47 games in total), and Schiavone saved six match points before finally prevailing 6–4, 1–6, 16–14. With this win, Schiavone rose in the rankings to world No. 4 after the tournament, the highest ranking ever achieved by an Italian woman, improving her own record. In the quarterfinal against world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki, Schiavone was a set and 3–1 up in the second set, but was broken twice by Wozniacki in the same set and twice in the third, to lose 6–3, 3–6, 3–6 after saving three match points.

Schiavone was the fifth seed and defending champion at the French Open. She beat Melanie Oudin, Vesna Dolonts, 29th seed Peng Shuai, tenth seed Jelena Janković, 14th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and 11th seed Marion Bartoli to reach the final where she lost to Li Na, 4–6, 6–7.

Schiavone struggled whilst representing Italy at Fed Cup versus Ukraine, losing to a non-top-100 player Lesia Tsurenko comprehensively 1–6, 2–6 and barely getting past Kateryna Bondarenko, 6–7, 7–5, 6–4. Despite her struggles, Italy still managed to progress through to the semifinals.

Schiavone played in the mini gulf series in Doha and Dubai losing early in both of them as the seventh seed; Doha in the second round to Yanina Wickmayer 4–6, 6–7 and in her Dubai opener to Ana Ivanovic 1–6, 5–7.

At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, she (as 10th seed) avenged her Fed Cup loss by beating Lesia Tsurenko, 6–2, 6–4, before retiring against Lucie Šafářová in the third round after losing the first set 6–2. With the same seeding in Miami, she lost to Ksenia Pervak 4–6, 6–4, 4–7 in her opener, blowing a 3–0 final-set lead.

After lackluster results, the clay-court season was a chance for Schiavone to get back on form on her favorite surface, but as the top seed at the Barcelona Ladies Open, her poor form continued as she lost to Olga Govorstova, 4–6, 3–6 in her opening match. She represented Italy in Fed Cup semifinals against Czech Republic, losing both of her matches to Lucie Šafářová, 6–7, 1–6, and to Petra Kvitová, 4–6, 6–7. Italy lost the tie 1–4. After passing her opening round in Stuttgart against Monica Niculescu, she lost in the second round to No. 3 seed Petra Kvitová, 2–6, 2–6. She also lost her opener in Madrid to Varvara Lepchenko and Rome to Ekaterina Makarova. However, Schiavone finally found some form going into the French Open, winning Strasbourg by defeating Sloane Stephens and Alizé Cornet in the semifinals and finals, respectively.

Schiavone reached the third round of French Open, where she lost to Varvara Lepchenko, 6–3, 3–6, 6–8.

In the final, Schiavone faced Stosur in a rematch of their first-round meeting at the 2009 French Open which Stosur had won easily (6–4, 6–2). Because of this previous result, and Stosur's victories over four-time French Open champion Justine Henin, world No. 1 Serena Williams and world No. 4 Janković en route to the final, Stosur was considered a heavy favorite-. However, on 5 June 2010, Schiavone defied expectations to become the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam singles title, beating Stosur 6–4, 7–6. The victory made her only the third Italian player to win a Grand Slam event in singles, after Nicola Pietrangeli and Adriano Panatta. She also became the oldest woman to win a first Grand Slam title in the Open Era, beating the previous record by Jana Novotná. The victory also meant she rose to No. 6 in the world rankings on 7 June 2010 and became the highest-ranked Italian woman ever, after Flavia Pennetta reached world No. 10 in 2009.

Schiavone began her clay-court season with a round of 16 loss to Radwańska at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. She then reached the round of 16 at the Mutua Madrid Open, falling to Mattek-Sands. Following Madrid, Schiavone reached the quarterfinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, losing to world No. 7, Sam Stosur, in a rematch of the 2010 French Open final. She 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.

She won eight WTA singles titles in total, including Roland Garros. In doubles, her career-high ranking is world No. 8, peaking with an appearance in the final of the 2008 French Open. Furthermore, she helped Italy to win the Fed Cup in 2006, 2009 and 2010, and has the most wins for the Italian team.

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 7–6, 7–6. 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.

Schiavone won eight singles titles on the WTA Tour and also achieved eleven runner-up positions, eight of them since the autumn of 2005. She lost her first eight career finals 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.

The semifinals of the French Open consisted of four players (Jelena Janković, Elena Dementieva, Samantha Stosur and Schiavone) who had never won a Grand Slam singles event; nevertheless, most in the tennis community, including ESPN's tennis commentary team of Mary Joe Fernández, Patrick McEnroe, and Brad Gilbert singled out Schiavone as the one player who was not a serious contender to win the title. In the semifinals, Schiavone defeated world No. 5 and 2004 finalist, Dementieva (she retired in the second set with a torn calf muscle having lost the first set in a tiebreaker), and the victory made Schiavone the first Italian woman to reach a Grand Slam final, and assured that she would become a top-ten player for the first time following the tournament.

Schiavone reached the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup, where she fell to top seed Caroline Wozniacki. She 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 (where she had lost to Jennifer Capriati). In the quarterfinals, she fell to seven-time Grand Slam singles champion No. 3 seed Venus Williams 6–7, 4–6.

Seeded 17th entering the French Open, Schiavone was lightly regarded as a contender for the championship. She defeated Regina Kulikova, Sophie Ferguson, 11th seed Li Na, and 30th seed Maria Kirilenko to reach her first French Open quarterfinal since 2001 (where she had lost to Martina Hingis). There, she defeated world No. 3, Caroline Wozniacki, in straight sets to become the first Italian woman to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam singles event.

Francesca Schiavone (Italian pronunciation: [franˈtʃɛska skjaˈvoːne] ; born 23 June 1980) is a retired Italian tennis player. She 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. She was also runner-up at the 2011 French Open. Her career-high ranking is world No. 4, achieved on 31 January 2011. To date, Schiavone is the last one-handed-backhand player to win a Grand Slam title on the women's tour.

Seeded 22nd, Schiavone faced off against Sloane Stephens in the first round of the US Open and lost in straight sets. Schiavone then competed at the Toray Pan Pacific Open where she defeated Yaroslava Shvedova in the first round but then lost to Sam Stosur. She then suffered three consecutive first-round losses to Li Na at Beijing, to Olga Puchkova at Osaka and to Urszula Radwańska at Moscow.