Three days after Sara Errani completed the career Grand Slam in doubles, she showed staying power in singles.
The energetic Italian rebounded from an opening-round Wimbledon exit with a milestone moment in Bad Gastein. Errani defeated qualifier Katerina Siniakova, 6-3, 6-2, to capture her 400th career singles victory today.
The landmark caps an emotional 72 hours for Errani. On Saturday, Errani and good friend Roberta Vinci defeated Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic in the Wimbledon doubles final, 6-1, 6-3, becoming only the fifth pair in history to win every Grand Slam doubles championship. The duo opened the season successfully defending their Australian Open doubles title, then reached their third straight Roland Garros doubles final before breaking through at SW19 to regain the world No. 1 doubles ranking.
“Unbelievable. I mean, no words to tell you what it is for us,” Errani said after winning Wimbledon. “We were thinking about that all the day, all the morning. (It) is very special.”
The 5'4 1/2" bundle of intensity has shortened up her service motion, but her desire remains undiminished. Errani, who has 286 career wins and 23 titles in doubles, should crack the combined 700-total victory mark in the coming weeks (she is not playing doubles this week as Vinci is playing in Bucharest). Not bad for a player whose first racquet was nearly as big as she was back in the days when she was still sporting sleeves on court.
Errani and Vinci's partnership has been so productive because they're close friends who approach the tour as a team trek, they are both skilled around net despite playing disparate styles — Errani's heavy topspin displaces opponents, Vinci uses the short slice backhand to dislodge them from the baseline — and both are undersized fighters who exhibit problem-solving skills. Errani has three Top 10 wins this season and has reached finals on both hard court (Paris) and her preferred red clay (Rome).
"Well, it's a different way to find a solution to win matches," Errani said of her approach to facing power players last season. "I don't have the power that the big girls have, but I try to think a bit more about what is the worse point for the opponent or the best way for me to think more about tactic, is very important for me to know where is the key of the match and try to be on that point."