Pennetta dominates Halep in straights to advance to 1st career major final

With her first-ever major final appearance at stake, 33-year-old Flavia Pennetta played the match of her life Friday, upending world No. 2 Simona Halep in the US Open semis in two stunningly dominant sets, 6-1, 6-3. The match was over in less than an hour.

Calmly, quietly, the 26th-ranked Italian has played virtuosic tennis this tournament, and, having also knocked off No. 5 Petra Kvitova in the quarters, she's beaten consecutive top-five opponents for just the second time in her career. She's the oldest first-time Slam finalist in the Open era.

Pennetta's backhand was positively electric against Halep, especially going crosscourt, a shot she used time and again to put the speedy Romanian on the run. On another day, Halep may have been able to counter effectively with her own deadly backhand down the line, but this was not her day.

Halep is among the game's best defenders, and she defended ably, but she all too rarely found a way to turn that defense into offense. She was consistently pinned back behind the baseline, managing just 10 winners while spraying 23 ugly unforced errors. Losing faith in her groundstrokes, she resorted to untimely drop shots that hung up and got devoured.

After a woeful first set, Halep had gained some measure of momentum early in the second, responding to getting broken in her opening service game with consecutive breaks of her own. She was skipping and fist-pumping and finally sticking some of her kill shots, and it appeared the tide had turned.

It proved to be a blip. Pennetta, undeterred, won the next 15 consecutive points, whaling away from the baseline and cracking winners off both wings. Halep did her utmost to run everything down, but she ultimately only delayed the inevitable, as Pennetta's relentless onslaught won out. She never seemed to be affected by the weight of the moment.

At least, not until she'd finally completed the upset and punched her ticket to the final.

"I mean, it's amazing," Pennetta said after the match. "I didn't think (I'd) be so far into the tournament. ... I didn't know how (I'd) handle the pressure I had."

Quite well, it turns out.

In the final, she'll meet friend and countrywoman Roberta Vinci, who stunned the tennis world - and overshadowed Pennetta's own big victory - just a couple hours later with a titanic upset of Serena Williams.