Forza Francesca! Schiavone's fabulous career highlights
The best images from the Italian's storied career.
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Francesca Schiavone made her big break in Rome 2001, when she upset Magdalena Maleeva and reached the quarterfinals (Getty)
02
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Two weeks later, playing just her third Grand Slam main draw, Schiavone defeated Amanda Coetzer en route to her first Roland Garros quarterfinal, where she lost to Martina Hingis (Getty)
03
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Schiavone had reached her first final in Tashkent 2000, and a second followed in Canberra 2003, with Schiavine defeating Flavia Pennetta and Marion Bartoli before falling to Meghann Shaughnessy (Getty)
04
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A second major quarterfinal followed as Schiavone dodged showers to beat Ai Sugiyama at the US Open 2003 en route to her first year-end Top 20 ranking (Getty)
05
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Schiavone would be renowned as a dangerous upset artist over the course of her career, and her first of ten Top 5 wins came in the 2004 Warsaw quarterfinals over Amélie Mauresmo, 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-1 (Getty)
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Schiavone captured a famous win over Serena Williams in front of her home crowd in Rome 2005, winning 7-6(2), 6-1 (Getty)
07
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Schiavone would reach three more finals in 2005, including her first at Tier I level in Moscow, where she beat Amélie Mauresmo, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva before falling to Mary Pierce (Getty)
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Another three finals followed in 2006 as Schiavone put together her fourth straight Top 20 year; the closest she would get to her maiden title would be in stretching Justine Henin to a 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 scoreline in the Sydney final (Getty)
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A long and happy association with the Fed Cup started in 2002 but really took off in 2006, when she helped Italy to the title (Getty)
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Schiavone defeated Yvonne Meusburger 6-1, 6-4 to celebrate her first WTA Tour title in Bad Gastein, Austria in 2007, having lost her first eight finals (Getty)
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Roland Garros 2008 was the site of Schiavone's first Grand Slam final - in doubles with Casey Dellacqua, runners-up to Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual (Getty)
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In 2009, Schiavone reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon - the first and only time she would go so far at SW19 (Getty)
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A second title, and first at Premier level, followed at Moscow 2009, with Schiavone routing Olga Govortsova 6-3, 6-0 in the final (Getty)
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Schiavone's career highlight arrived at Roland Garros in 2010, when she beat Samantha Stosur 6-4, 7-6(2) in the final to win her first Slam title at the age of 29 (Getty)
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Victory in Paris lifted her career to a new level, and Schiavone would peak in the rankings at World No.4 in January 2011 (Getty)
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Schiavone came into her own as a competitor and entertainer after becoming a Slam champion, wowing the US Open crowds with a tweener in her third-round match en route to her second quarterfinal there in 2010 (Getty)
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Another Fed Cup trophy followed later in 2010 for Italy's golden generation - Schiavone, Flavia Pennetta, Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci joined forces to defeat the USA in the final (Getty)
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Schiavone completed her full set of Grand Slam quarterfinals when she reached the last eight at the 2011 Australian Open (Getty)
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Schiavone's route included an epic 6-4, 1-6, 16-14 fourth-round win over Svetlana Kuznetsova - an all-time classic that, at four hours and 44 minutes, remains the longest women's Slam match of the Open Era (Getty)
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Schiavone's defence of her beloved Roland Garros title was a lionhearted one as she fought through two three-setters to reach the final, where she relinquished the trophy to Li Na (Getty)
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Four years later, Schiavone turned the clock back to win another epic Slam match over Kuznetsova, this time 6-7(11), 7-5, 10-8 in the second round of Roland Garros (Getty)
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Schiavone remained competitive deep into her career, winning titles in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Bogota in 2017 – the last of her seven trophies (Getty)
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