Flavia Pennetta reached her third Grand Slam quarterfinal at last year’s US Open beating world No.3 Maria Sharapova on the way. Earlier in the year she won her first Grand Slam doubles title at the Australian Open with Argentinian Gisela Dulko.

The former world No. 10 finished her 2011 season with a semifinal effort in Beijing where she knocked over top seed Caroline Wozniacki.

Pennetta has 14 doubles titles, many with Dulko, and the pair won the WTA doubles team of the year award in 2010.