Schiavone keeps Italian women rolling

This is turning out to be another good U.S. Open for the Italian women. Following Flavia Pennetta's upset win over Maria Sharapova on Friday, Francesca Schiavone toughed out a third-round win Saturday.

Like fine Tuscan wine, Schiavone and Pennetta have matured into appealing players, displaying more nuance than power, more depth of flavor than a big bang on the palate.

Saturday Schiavone, 31, had to go three sets against Chanelle Scheepers (pronounced Skeppers) 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-3. It took nearly three hours of sweat and tenacity for Schiavone to overcome the determined Scheepers. But sweat and tenacity are the hallmarks of Schiavone's game, along with loud grunts of "hee-hi" that turn to "hee-hah" when the going gets especially tough.

And what's three hours of running and flailing and grunting to Schiavone? At the Australian Open this year she won the longest recorded women's match in the Grand Slam history, four hours and 44 minutes over Svetlana Kuznetsova. Schiavone, who became the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam at Roland Garros last year, is no stranger to long matches, not that she wouldn't like to finish a little quicker. (A match against Ai Sugiyama, weather impacted, once took four days.)

"I think sometimes I could play a little bit less," Schiavone said. "But sometimes I have to say that I am like this. I hope to take the chance when I can finish before, try to finish when it's time to finish, two sets . . . But, for example, the match in Australia we went two, three sets, so long, but we played amazing, both of us. So sometimes you have to say, 'OK, that's a long match.' And I don't play like Serena, boom, boom."

Pennetta's game is a little more fluid than Schiavone's, but so far at the Open each has been effective in her own way. Pennetta, 27, was the first Italian woman to be ranked in the top 10 in 2009. She has since fallen back to No. 27, but the Open has been her best Grand Slam venue. She reached the fourth round last year, and the quarterfinals the two years before. In reaching the fourth round this year, and a matchup with Peng Shuai, she had to go through Sharapova, and when she did, the afterglow was evident.

When asked to describe how she would approach the match with Peng, she said. "I have to be really aggressive and try to move her a lot . . . But now I just want to enjoy this moment, really."

A third Italian woman, Roberta Vinci, followed Schiavone onto the Grandstand court Saturday, but was ushered out by Andrea Petkovic, 6-4, 6-0.

So why are Italian women doing so well?

"We are improving the school, the education to become champion, to work on tennis," Schiavone said. "I think 10 years ago was not so good like now we are giving much more support [for] the young players. So pay attention."