Schiavone rolling, looks to keep it going vs. Venus

If you ask Francesca Schiavone what style of tennis she plays, she responds that it is like pizza. "I don't give you margherita," she said. "I give you Capricciosa, different kind of ingredient."

In June, she brought everything to the French Open and in a memorable victory over Samantha Stosur in the final, she became the first Italian woman to win a major singles title. She passionately kissed the red clay of Roland Garros less than three weeks before her 30th birthday.

Now here she is, a real contender in the U.S. Open. She's ranked seventh in the world, and after a comfortable 6-3, 6-0 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, she's advanced to the quarterfinals and will meet Venus Williams, also 30 years old.

Schiavone has a reasonably successful history here, making the quarterfinals in 2003 and reaching the round of 16 three times before yesterday. Yet she has no history of coming here as a major champion. This is hard court and she prefers the clay, but she is playing confidently and has reason to believe that she can do things here.

"I feel better than when I was in the French Open, just because I know how to do it and how to win a [big] match like this," Schiavone said. "So I'm very curious. I'm interested to see and to write a new history."

She has been writing history relatively late in her career with a game that features heavy spin and a one-handed backhand. She and Justine Henin are the only players in the top 20 who hit the backhand one-handed. She has never beaten Venus in seven previous meetings, losing twice this year, both times in three sets.

"Obviously, her game is better than ever," said Williams, who turned 30 six days earlier than Schiavone in June. "Seems like everybody is hitting their stride at 30. It's the new 20."

You would expect that, as an Italian, Schiavone would get her share of support in New York, but she says that so far, it hasn't been anything close to hero worship. "Oh, no, no," she said. "But I feel that there are some, a lot of Italians. I went to Little Italy. I went to some Italian restaurant. It's great, but I know I have to fight against maybe a U.S. player, so I understand if they cheer for her. I hope a piece can cheer for me."