Roberta Vinci did the unthinkable and pulled off one of the biggests upset in women’s tennis history when she beat Serena Williams in the semifinals of the US Open on Friday.
Vinci by her own admission did not think winning the match was possible. She said she wasn’t even thinking of victory when she woke up in the morning the day of the match. She was 33 years old, unseeded, and Serena had won the last four majors and was going for the calendar Grand Slam. Yet Vinci pulled off the upset.
The Italian player’s victory Friday got us thinking: what are some of the biggest upsets in women’s tennis history and how do they stack up?
We ranked them all below.
10. Karolina Sprem beats Venus Williams in Wimbledon 2nd round 2004
Venus Williams had reached the finals of Wimbledon for four straight years, winning half of them. But she fell to Sprem 7-6, 7-6 in a controversial match where Sprem was mistakenly awarded an extra point in the second set tiebreaker. While Williams went on to win Wimbledon the following year and claimed two more Venus Rosewater Dishes during her career, Sprem never had a career ranking higher than 17th and never made it past the fourth round of a major after reaching the quarterfinals of that tournament.
9. No. 2 Andrea Jaeger loses in 2nd round of 1981 US Open to unlisted Andrea Leand
Jaeger was the No. 2 seed in the 1981 US Open, yet she fell to 17-year-old Andrea Leand, who was a wild-card entry into the tournament. Leand was not even ranked in the computer’s printing of the top 261 women in the world. Though Jaeger started off well winning the first set 6-1, she dropped the next two and lost the match.
Jaeger had reached the semifinals at the US Open the previous year, and she made it to the semis of the tournament the following year. She also reached the semis at the Australian and the finals at the French Open in the two following tournaments, showing that she was at her peak when Leand beat her. And though Leand was a top junior, she never advanced beyond the fourth round of a major in her career.
8. Iva Majoli over Martina Hingis in 1997 French Open final
Hingis had won 37 straight matches entering her contest with Majoli, a 19-year-old Croatian, and the Swiss star was in the middle of her dominant run. She had become the youngest No. 1 player in the world in women’s history, and she had won the Australian Open. Yet she fell to Majoli in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 in a stunner.
After losing to Majoli, who became the lowest-seeded woman to win a Grand Slam in the Open era, Hingis went on to win Wimbledon and the US Open. Majoli’s upset prevented Hingis from capturing the calendar Grand Slam. This marked Majoli’s only career major. She never made it past the quarterfinals in another major.
